


Little Heartbeat

by larryftnoctrl



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bottom Harry, Chef Niall, Eventual Smut, Fluffy, Jay is in it too, M/M, Minor Character Death, Mpreg, Mpreg Harry, Pregnant Harry, Smut, Top Louis, bc i breathe b!h, corporate executive liam, corporate executive louis, harry/omc for like 3 chaps, i think i mention zayn's job but i'm not too sure, it's mentioned once in like one chapter, she's happy and healthy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2018-09-03 18:34:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 62,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8725771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larryftnoctrl/pseuds/larryftnoctrl
Summary: They say that sometimes everything has to go wrong before it becomes right.the one where (like always) I suck at summaries





	1. I

"Harry?" A voice murmurs into Harry's ear.

"Hmmm?"

"Wake up, love. I've got something for you."

"Lemme sleep Mych.. I'm very tired...." Harry pulls up the duvet falling from his naked body.

"It's your favorite baby. Mint ice cream." Mych rubs his arm.

"Later please?"

"Okay fine. Wanna cuddle?"

"Yes please."

"Ever so polite, love." He laughs softly and kisses the other's cheek, his stubble rubbing against it. Harry smiles, leaning into his touch. "I'll just put the ice cream in the freezer." He kisses his cheek again.

"Okay. I love you." He mumbles sleepily feeling Mychal's weight lift off the mattress. Harry lets out a happy sigh. Five years of being happily in love. What else does one need? His phone then buzzes on the bedside table

**_Hazzzzzza_ ** **_I_ ** **_mizz_ ** **_u come home... lads sleepover x_ **

_I'm tired_ _LOu_ _.... Some other time_   
_maybe...miss you too_ _xx_

_**Urgh** _ _**fine... Goodnight then.** _

_Don't be mad_ _louisisiisiis_

_**I'm bored** _ _**harytyryturyru** _

_Ugh fine_ _whr_ _r u?_

_**Outside** _ **_ross_ ** **_'_ ** _**house in ten mins** _

"Who are you texting babe?" Mych crawls into the bed, getting under the covers.

"S'just Louis."

"Just Louis? Just Louis are you fucking kidding?" He yells immediately getting out of bed.

Harry rubs his forehead irritably. "Mych shut the fuck up. This isn't a fucking soap opera where you'll get mad at me for having friends and I'll be all naive and stupid and won't leave you." He says without even turning to him. He immediately shuts up.

"I'm sorry." He mumbles.

"It's whatever... I'm going home... I'll come over later." Harry throws off the covers.

"I'll drop you off?" He suggests hopefully

"It's fine. Lou will be here any minute."

"You aren't mad, are you?" He asks softly.

"No, Mychal David Ross, how could I ever be mad at you. It's not like you almost picked a fight with me for having a friend." He remarks sarcastically.

"I'm sorry babe... I just don't trust Tomlinson's intentions."

"Intentions?" Harry's voice takes a high pitch "intentions?" He laughs humorlessly. "He's been my best mate since childhood. You should be more worried about your brother's intentions towards me." He scoffs referring to the time Mychal's cousin stopped him in the washroom when they were throwing a housewarming party for Mychal and tried to grope him which resulted in a broken nose, Louis' bloody knuckles and a party ended early.

Not to mention a three way shouting match between Harry, Mychal and Louis. The day ended with Harry not speaking to Mychal for a week and spending all his time with Louis. He wasn't going to take his boyfriend telling him to 'stop roaming around with your tits out like a slut if you don't wanna be groped.' Yes he was slapped after that. Yes Harry slapped him. Louis may or may not have kicked him in the balls. He may or may not have screamed louder than a 5 year old girl.

"I know I'm sorry, I'm being stupid. I just don't like Tomlinson, I'm sorry." He wraps an arm around Harry's waist and rests his forehead against his, his grey eyes seeming to see right into the other's soul. His eyes have always been intimidating to Harry. "I love you." He murmurs. "And the next time I act stupid, please slap me. And I swear I'll deal with my brother. Nobody touches my baby. And I'm sorry how I acted that day."

Harry laughs softly. "It's okay. I love you too, you idiot." He mumbles kissing him softly. "Bye baby." He slowly pulls away

"Bye, love. Enjoy, alright?"

"I will. See you later baby. I'll call you." Harry smiles at him and tug on his coat. He kisses him one last time just as the doorbell rings. Harry rushes downstairs to open the door and finds Louis there.

"Harry." He immediately hugs the boy tight.

"Woah," Harry staggers backwards due to the force of the hug. "Hi Lou." He hides his face into Louis' neck.

"S'been a while." He murmurs.

"I know I'm sorry Lou." Harry murmurs Louis' neck. "I missed you."

He gently pulls away. His gaze falls on Mych standing behind me. "Ross." He nods curtly.

"Tomlinson."

"How's the cousin?"

"Louis!" Harry gasps, hitting his arm.

"Just curious, love."

"Coming over today."

"Is that-" Louis raises his eyebrows.

"WHAT?"

"Wait, you didn't know?" Louis looks surprised.

"No what the fuck... I would've never been okay with this."

"Well I'm sorry I didn't know I needed permission to ask my cousin to stay over in my own house.." He remarks sassily.

"How long is he gonna be here for?" Harry raises his eyebrows

"A month."

"Is this a joke to you Mychal? Is this funny? You just said you'd deal with your cousin. And now he's coming over? You know what... Fuck you... I'm getting my stuff... Get your shit together man... I'll see you in a month." Harry runs upstairs.

"Harry, no.. wait..." Louis calls after him but he ignores him. He glares at Mych ready to kill him.

Harry slams the bedroom door and pulls out a small suitcase, throwing into it what little stuff he has at his place and zipping it. He sits on the floor and takes deep breaths when there's a gentle knock on the door.

"Go away!" He yells.

"Harry... It's me, Louis. Please let me in." Harry huffs and opens the door, stepping aside to let him in. "Harry..." Harry wraps his arms around him and nuzzles his face into his neck. "Oh love..." He sighs softly and pulls Harry even closer.

"He always does that."

"What, love?"

"He always does stuff without even asking me. Stuff he knows will hurt me."

"I'm so sorry, darling." He kisses his hair. "Shall we go home?"

"Yes please."

"Come on, then." He pulls away and grabs his suitcase.

"I can get that Louis."

"Oh shut up Harry. Come on." He laughs and literally drags Harry down the stairs.

\---

"Okay tell me what's going on with the both of you?" Louis asks once him and Harry are comfortably nestled, Indian style, in Louis' bed.

"I don't know Lou. He's just so weird all the time? Like one moment he's the sweetest person and then the next he's pulling shit like that." Harry rubs his temples. "I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Well you're here for a month. Take that time to figure it out yeah?"

He hums in agreement. "What about you? No special one yet?"

"There is. They're just in a relationship right now, so it's some complicated shit." Louis smiles sadly.

"Oh my god that really sucks. I wish I could do something." Harry pouts.

"I'm fine. It'll be fine." He smiles patting his knee. "Get some rest, yeah?"

"Okay." Harry gives him a soft smile and lies down with a soft thump. Louis runs his hands through Harry's hair.

"It's good to have you back Haz, I really missed you."

"I missed you too, Lou." Harry smiles sleepily. Louis runs his hand through Harry's hair making him let out a pleased sound causing Louis to laugh. "What?"

"Nothing... You're just more kitten-ish when you're sleepy, it's cute."

"I'm never kitten-ish what are you on about, Tomlinson.".

"Oh come on. You're always cuddling. You literally purr when someone pets your hair. You couldn't be more kitten-ish if you tried." Louis laughs.

They argue back and forth till it subsides into fond smiles on their faces. Harry finally falls asleep and Louis covers him, grabbing his keys from his bedside. He tiptoes out of the room, shutting the door behind him with a fond smile.


	2. II

"Harry... Come on. We're gonna be late. Liam will be so pissed if we mess this up."

"Fuck you Louis. If I'm such a burden then why don't you just leave?"

"Harry please just stop this shit okay? You've been this moody for a week now and I'm getting really tired of it." Louis sighs entering Harry's room to deal with him.

He sits there on his bed with tears in his eyes. "You're tired of me. You hate me. Don't hate me Louis. Mych already hates me." Tears roll down his cheeks. Louis gasps and quickly pulls him tightly into a hug.

"Harry, shhhh, don't cry, love. I don't hate you okay? I'm not tired of you either. You've just been very moody and mopey lately. It's a bit exhausting. But it's fine, it's understandable. Are you ready? Shall we go? Liam's gonna kill us if we miss Sophia's birthday party." He straightens the collar of his lovely patterned suit. "You look lovely, Harry." Louis says softly patting his cheek.

"I like Sophia." He says, his voice thick with tears. "She's very nice to me." He wipes his eyes. "And thank you. It's Gucci. You look very hot." Louis raises his eyebrows and chuckles, surprised at his straightforwardness.

"Well, thank you. And yes she's very nice. Let's go now, Haz."

**(\\_/)**   
**(='.'=)**   
**(")_("** **)**

"Harry, here. I brought your favorite, mint ice cream." He turns his nose up.

"Ew."

"Harry! You love mint ice cream."

"It's repulsive. Take it away from me."

Louis sighs and takes it away. Harry has been incredibly frustrating and moody lately. It's grating on his nerves. "What's up Lou? Why so irritated?" Niall wraps an arm around the man's shoulder.

"Hi Niall. It's nothing. Harry's acting like a pregnant lady and its tiring."

"What do you mean?"

"Keeps having mood swings and acts so damn sensitive."

"I don't know, isn't he-"

"Can I have your attention everyone?" Liam calls into the mic on stage where a band was performing seconds ago. He had completely outdone himself for the girl. He looked as amazing as everything else. He was wearing a dashing silver three piece suit with a black silk tie and patent leather shoes. Everyone turns to him but he only has eyes for Sophia who's wearing a matching silver sequinned gown that hugs all her curves perfectly. It's a gift from Liam. "Soph, baby, come up on stage with me please?" She let's out a nervous little giggle before joining him.

"What's going on, Li?"

"Just listen to me yeah? I- uhm- I met you all the way back in high school, and I hated your guts. I never expected to be here. With you next to me, happily dating you for almost 4 years. You're the light of my life-"

"What the fuck?" Zayn mutters into Louis' ear causing him to jump a foot into the air.

"Don't fucking creep up on me." Louis smacks his arm and focuses on Zayn instead of his friend onstage.

"I'm not drunk enough for this." Zayn snatches the flute of wine out of Louis' hand and downs it in one. He then opts for stealing Niall's beer and downing that too. Louis diverts his attention back to Liam trying to catch on to what he was saying.

"- I've loved you for so long now, I can't imagine my life without you." Liam finally pauses with a smile. "So will you, please, make me the luckiest guy on the planet and," he gets down on one knee causing everyone to gasp,"be my wife?"

"What the fuck I'm outta here. This ain't my ship." Zayn scoffs and walks out pulling out a packet of cigarettes along the way.

Louis laughs. Zayn's always found Sophia repulsive.

Sometimes Louis thinks he's jealous. To be honest both of them are always repulsed by each other's significant others. Zayn once got so pissed at Liam's ex, he cut about 7 inches of her hair unevenly just because the both of them were supposed to hang out that night and Danielle decided she and Liam hadn't been out enough recently.

Niall himself was cringing. He wasn't against them but he wasn't very fond of Sophia either, especially since the one time Sophia drunkenly tried to take him home. In front of Liam.

Louis was okay with Sophia. Liked her even. She was nice, and fun. She liked to go out to a game of footie with him just as much as she liked to have movie nights with Harry or get drunk with Niall and Liam. Harry was right, she's lovely that one. She once even went to a comic convention with Zayn to try and bond with him but that was such a disaster, they never speak of it.

One would think Harry had a crush on her if he wasn't completely gay and gone for Mychal. He absolutely adored her. She was like his best friend. They were so close Mychal hated her almost as much as he hated Louis.

Liam was still on his knee and Sophia was just looking at him blankly. Then she cleared her throat. "Liam can I talk to you in private, please?"

"Is everything okay Soph?" He turns pink and stands up.

"Can we just talk? Please?" She tugs on his arm.

"Sure. Um," he turns to the mic. "Really sorry about this everyone. I'll be back soon please enjoy yourselves." And he's gone as the band comes on stage instead.

"Louis?" Harry goes over to the lad and pokes his arm.

"Harry.." A loving smile overtakes Louis' previously worried expression causing Niall to snort. "Wherever have you been, love?"

"About. Is she going to say no?" He asks, his bottom lip trembling.

"Now Harry don't be upset... I don't know what she's going to say, how about we wait and find out." Louis wraps an arm around him. He's worried about his best mate. He can only imagine how humiliating that was.

Harry nuzzles into Louis' neck and he kisses his forehead. Harry is unconsciously swaying to the music making him sway along. The entire vibe is peaceful and happy until there's loud yelling.

"OH YEAH? SO WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL HERE? IS THIS A JOKE TO YOU SOPHIA?"

"SHUT UP LIAM YOU'RE PATHETIC."

Harry winces and curls even more into Louis. "Why are they fighting?"

"I don't know Harry... Don't you worry okay?" Louis wraps his other arm around the younger boy and cuddles him close to his chest.

"YOU'RE STILL THE SAME LIKE IN SCHOOL. GOING ABOUT BREAKING HEARTS LIKE GLASS."

"AT LEAST THE HEARTS I BROKE THEN WERE WORTH THE TIME." she then mutters something no one catches.

"Say that again?" Liam says, deadly calm.

"FOUR FUCKING YEARS WASTED ON A GOOD FOR NOTHING LOSER." She yells. Liam cowers. She hit his deepest insecurity. Louis wanted to interfere but he's got Harry to keep calm and Niall's too shitfaced. Before he can detach himself from Harry the door slams open.

"Care to say that again?" Zayn walks up to the couple getting right onto her face.

"Stay out of it asshole." She scoffs.

"Listen here you little bitch." Zayn hisses grabbing her wrist. Niall is holding Liam close who seems to be crying. "I thought I wouldn't say shit to you today because it's your birthday and because Liam loves you but you don't fucking publicly humiliate him and then call him a loser and get away with it." Zayn is positively fuming. Liam and Zayn had a bond much like Harry and Louis and well, had it been the other way round, the person to hurt Zayn would've already been six feet under.

"Oh yeah and what will you do about it? Cry to mommy? Or blow smoke at me?" Sophia laughs. Zayn flinches slightly, not expecting the low blow.

"Hey, you don't talk to my mate like that!" Niall protests loudly. He's always been a little over confident and overenthusiastic when he's drunk.

"Listen you fake blond leprechaun. You stay out of this okay? It's not my fault your friends are little sissies." Sophia hisses viciously. She is absolutely done with these losers.

Harry pulls away from Louis and goes over to Sophia. "Don't call them sissies!! No one over here is a sissy. I thought you were better than this!" Harry is close to tears not expecting that from one of his closest friends.

"Look who's talking." She laughs. "The biggest sissy of the group. Fuck you Harry... Your girlier and sissier than the highschool cheerleaders that carry makeup bags with them and fear chipping a nail."

Louis takes a deep breath. He's pissed but he knows if he reacts, it'll get out of hand. Time to be mature and think calmly. He walks onto the stage and asks the lead singer for the mic.

"Erm.... Yeah this is kinda awkward. But let's cut this short yeah? Dinner is served, please proceed to the dining hall. The host will be joining you all shortly." He then proceeds towards Sophia.

"Listen you ungrateful little bitch. Liam has done nothing but be good to you. He's fulfilled every demand and every wish. Look at this thing he pulled off all alone. You don't get to call my best friend a loser okay. Just fucking leave." Zayn snarls. He's never been more angry. Liam is so shocked all he can do is cry into Niall's shirt.

"I thought you were good for him, Soph. I thought he finally had what he was looking for and what he needed." Louis says sadly not choosing to respond to her remarks about his friends.

She gasps softly and runs over to him gripping his arms. "Don't say that Louis. Don't be disappointed in me. I did this all for you. I love _you._ Please don't be mad at me. I could be what you need. Give me a chance."

"WHAT?" Louis pulls away, outraged.

Liam looks scandalised. "Louis I can't-"

"No, Li... Believe me I had no idea about this. Are you crazy? First Niall now me? I'm gay. G - A- Y. Stay away from me, woman." He stumbles over his feet in a hurry to back away.

"Louis I know you love me."

"Smith, listen, calm the fuck down. You're, excuse me, you were, you were my best mate's girl for almost four goddamn years. Trust me if I liked you, he wouldn't have been my best mate. Now please leave before I call security on you."

She ignores Louis and goes to Liam. "I'm sorry Liam. I'll marry you. Please forgive me." Louis turns his nose up in disgust. No one can believe her shit right now.

"Get the fuck away from him." Zayn says protectively pulling Liam into his arms. Liam gently pries himself from his seemingly vice like grip.

"Even if you hadn't hit on one of my best mates although we're technically still together I wouldn't have forgiven you. You literally insulted all of my closest friends. You made fun of Zayn for loving his mum, and we all know how hard he's trying to quit. You made fun of Niall for being Irish? If that even makes sense. You made fun of Harry being girly when it's his most beautiful and unique part, then you tried to hit on Louis. My wingman, the guy who reintroduced us and he's gay for fucks sake. You insulted all the people I love and then you expect me to forgive you after you publicly rejected me and hit on my gay best mate?"

Louis laughs humorlessly. "And fuck all of that. You insulted Liam. The guy who treated you like a fucking queen, spend weeks planning your birthday party, months thinking of ways to propose. You hit him where it hurt. You're disgusting. Harry, who thought so highly of you, who absolutely _adored_ you because you didn't judge him, you showed him exactly how much of a bitch you are when he was so happy for you and Liam and so fucking excited to see you. I'm not gonna mention Niall and Zayn since they don't like you either, but they tried their level best to, just because you meant so much to our friend. And I? Fuck, I don't regret my flamboyant phase as much as I regret reintroducing you to the most loving guy I know. My best mate, you've got him to cry, something I haven't seen happen since his sixteenth birthday. Fuck you Sophia Smith, fucking leave before I kill you. And don't show your face to any of us ever again, especially to Liam."

"Liam-" she makes a last attempt

"Lady, I swear to God-"

"Get out." Liam says loudly.

"Liam-"

"Get the fuck out of here." He says calmly.

She hangs her head and leaves.

"Good lad." Louis pats his shoulder, pulling him into a comforting hug. "You're gonna be fine. Go home. Zee? Take our boy home will ya? I'll handle the guests."

"Sure man. Come on Li. Let's go home, babe."

"Sure... Thanks guys... I really appreciate you having my back."

"Get some rest, man." Niall hugs him and whispers in his ear that he's going to be okay.

"I'm really sorry Liam." Harry murmurs cuddling Liam warmly making the crushed lad smile.

"Harry, love you wanna stay or go home?" Louis asks him once Liam and Zayn are gone.

"I think I'd like to go." He nods understandingly.

"Niall, lad, please drop Harry?"

"I can go, Lou."

"It's fine Hazza, I'll drop you. I'm gonna head home too."

"What about you?" Harry turns to Louis.

"I'll just wrap this up and come, alright?" He nods and Niall wraps an arm around his waist steering him away.

Louis takes in a deep breath. Okay then. Let's do this. He walks into the dining room, removing the wireless mic from the stand as he passed it.

He stands at the platform in the dining room. "Hello everyone. I'm Louis Tomlinson. A lot of you may know me." He smiles and a lot of people nod or smile back. "For those who don't, I'm Liam's partner at the firm and his best mate. Anyhow as you all saw, the proposal didn't go as expected... Well, Sophia did reject the proposal. I don't think much explanation is necessary but since the birthday girl isn't here... It's safe to say that the party is over. Rest assured, you can enjoy the meal before you leave. It's excellent food. A shame to waste it really."

A laugh goes around the room and everybody gets back to their meals. A few people come up to him, asking about Liam and/or Sophia. Louis assures them that Liam will be fine and violently exclaims that he couldn't care less about Sophia. Once all of that is wrapped up and the last guest has been sent, Louis drives home.

He calls Liam the minute he reaches.

"Hello? Lou?"

"Zee? Is Payno okay?"

"No. He's so shaken up right now. Louis I'm going to murder that bitch. You should've seen him when we got him home. All of Sophia's stuff lying about. Fuck man I've never seen him in such bad shape." Zayn's voice trembles.

"Zee, no man, you gotta be strong. You can't break down. Stay with him, please, he needs you there."

"Lou, he won't stop crying, I can't see him like this. You know I love him."

"I know. But you're the only one who can calm him down. Please Zayn you have to do this. For him!"

"Fine, fine I'm here. But you're taking over tomorrow morning. You owe me one. You promised you'd deal with it if this situation ever arose."

"I know, I'm sorry. I'll see you in the morning. 8 am. Try to get him to sleep. And pack a little of that bitch's stuff. I'll do the rest."

"Goodnight."

"G'night mate."


	3. III

"Zayn," Louis hisses shaking him. "Wake up!!" Zayn jerks awake almost hitting Liam in the face.

"Lou?" He mumbles blearily, rubbing his eyes and letting go of Liam's hand. He gets up from the chair and stretches.

"It's 9 already. Come on, go home."

"I can stay." He looks at Liam uncertainly.

"You don't have to. Go rest. I'll pack rest of Sophia's stuff while Liam sleeps."

"He's going to be a wreck when he wakes up."

"I know. I'll deal with it. Go home." After Zayn leaves Louis begins cleaning out Sophia's stuff from the closet and the room in general. When Liam wakes up Louis is trying to fix breakfast.

"What are you doing here?" Liam says rubbing his eyes, and dropping into a chair. The sudden sound in the otherwise silent house makes Louis jump. He holds his hand over his heart and smiles cheerily.

"Making you breakfast." Liam's eyes soften.

"Mate I appreciate it but really I'm fine."

"Yeah I know." Louis rolls his eyes. "You'll be better after eating."

"Not if you're cooking." Liam mumbles under his breath.

"You tosser!! I heard that. I'm incredibly hurt. Who do you think feeds me at home? And don't say Harry, he's always at Mychal's place anyway."

Liam fishmouths for a beat. "Okay fine but if I get sick, trust me I'm coming after you."

"You're gonna get sick anyway, roaming around barefoot and in boxers in fucking November." Louis mumbles.

"Awww you care. But you do realise I have heating?"

Louis snorts taking the plate of bacon (slightly burnt) and eggs (a little raw) to the table. "Heating? The heating in your room is turned down so fucking low you might as well be better off without it."

"Sophia needed a cold room at night." He mumbles. Louis' smile drops.

"Li-"

"I'm fine Louis. It'll take a while getting used to an empty house but I'm fine. In fact, I think I'm gonna pack her stuff and tell her to take it."

"Um, me and Zayn kinda already packed."

"You did? Oh. Thanks. Did you call her?"

"No but I can if you want." Liam shakes his head and starts eating. If he notices the slightly raw eggs or mildly burnt bacon, he doesn't comment. "Okay then, I'll just check in on Harry while you eat." Liam nods. Louis pulls out his phone and calls him. "Hello?"

"Lou." Harry mumbles sleepily.

"Were you asleep?" He asks incredulously. "At this hour? Who are you and what have you done with Harry Styles?"

"I was sleepy alright?" He snaps.

"What's with you? There's no need to get snappy with me." Louis asks affronted.

"Just leave me be, okay? I don't need you to treat me like a child just because I'm in a fight with my boyfriend."

"You don't like- you know what, forget it. Just call me when you're done being an ass." Louis hangs up.

"What's wrong?" Liam pipes up.

"God only knows. Seems like you can never get anything right with him these days. He'll be very cuddly and then suddenly he'll push me away saying 'god why are you so clingy?' I'm sick of it."

"He's going through a rough fight, Lou. Give him the benefit of the doubt." He puts away his plate.

"That doesn't give him the right to give me a hard time. I'm loaded with work, so many things are going on at home, the auditor will come any day, cheques from 8 clients have bounced back. We're going to lose thousands of dollars.."

"Louis, hey calm down, I'll handle it alright? I already spoke to 3 of those clients and they gave me fresh cheques. And I've alright got the money transferred. The orphanage has been given their deposit and the NGO deposits are being sent out tomorrow."

"Thank you so much. You're a life saver. Where would we be without you? Oh and you should call Sophia." Louis leaves the room. A few minutes later Liam comes into the room.

"She'll be here soon. Hug?"

"I'm fine." Louis lies.

"I know. I need a hug." He humors him. Louis smiles softly and let's himself be hugged, his arms tight around his shoulders. Liam rubs his back soothingly. "How are you?"

"Not good." Louis mumbles into his neck and tucks his face into Liam's neck.

"You wanna talk?"

"Not particularly." Liam doesn't say anything, just holds him close. Louis has never been so grateful to have him. Just then doorbell rings. Liam slowly extracts himself from Louis' vice like grip and goes to open the door. "Your stuff is in the guestroom."

"Liam, don't do this... I love you." Sophia pleads. "Besides, where will I go?"

"Don't give me that shit."

"You don't have to be so bitter about a rejection. I'm not ready to get married."

He snorts. "It's not about the proposal. Just take your stuff and get out."

Sophia dejectedly grabs the two suitcases and leaves. Just as Liam is about to close the door, Niall enters. "Leemo!! My son." He grabs his face and plants a big wet smooch on his forehead.

"Hi Niall." He laughs. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to relieve Tommo of babysitting my son. Go home you miserable sod." He yells. Louis comes out with a snort.

"Hi ugly. Why are you here?"

"To take care of my son. Go home you loser."

"I'm on Liam duty till 1."

"Hey I'm still here okay?" Liam huffs.

They ignores him."Harry feels really guilty Lou. Go talk to him."

"Why can't he call me?"

"He's mad at himself for snapping at you. He literally pleaded me to send you home."

"Fine. Liam I'll be back soon yeah?"

"Guys really I'm fine. Have you really taken shifts for taking care of me?"

"Mhmm. I was supposed to start at-"

"When's Zayn's shift?"

Niall grins like a Cheshire cat. "At 11. He has the night shift." He turns to Louis. "And why are you still here?" Louis laughs and leaves, closing the door behind him.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Louis quietly enters the house and is just about to go to his room when he hears a loud retching noise. He frowns and goes to Harry's room. He finds the bathroom door wide open and Harry leaning over the toilet, one hand pushing back his hair. With a sympathetic sigh, he enters the bathroom and gently pulls Harry's hair out of his face, gathering them in one hand and rubbing his back with the other. Eventually Harry stops throwing up and Louis helps him stand. "You okay?" He asks quietly and Harry nods. "I'll be in my room." He hints leaving Harry to brush his teeth. Louis goes to his room and lies down, silently waiting for Harry. When he enters the room, he quietly gets into bed next to Louis and nudges his arm over his shoulder, fitting himself there. Without a word, Louis wraps his arm around his waist and holds him close, his head on his chest.

"I'm sorry Lou." Harry mumbles into Louis' shirt.

"Why were you so frustrated, love?"

"I don't know. I'm really sorry."

"That's fine, love, but you have been awfully moody lately. Also this is the third time you've thrown up this week."

"God I know I just don't know what to do about it."

"I think you should see a doctor, love. This isn't healthy, you're throwing up more than you're eating." Harry frowns. He hates going to the doctor. "I'll go with you if you want." He sighs, defeated. "Okay I'm booking the appointment." Harry nods and noses at his shirt.

"Hello? Am I speaking with Dr Connor Jones?"

"This is his office, yes. How may I help you, sir?"

"I'm looking to book an appointment with him for tomorrow?" Harry whines softly but Louis just pets his hair.

"I'll just check his schedule. Give me a moment." There is a short pause and Louis can hear keys clicking. "Well, yes, is 3:45 okay for you?"

"Hmmm yes that works, thank you so much. Book it in for Harry Styles please."

After some more clicking the lady comes back on line. "Dr Jones will be expecting you." Louis thanks her and hangs up.

"Well there you go. Now, go take a shower, and I'll fix us something to eat." Harry snorts.

"You rest. I'll showe _r and_ make food."

"Hey... That's offensive. I can make food."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

A loud knock jerks Louis out of his peaceful slumber. He sleepily gets out of bed and opens it. "Harry? It's really late." He yawns.

"I know, I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep. Can I stay with you tonight?" Louis rubs his eyes and turns around, beckoning him to get in. He smiles and closes the door behind him. Louis is already in bed and half asleep by the time he gets in next to him. "Lou? Cuddles?" Louis turns around wordlessly and wraps an arm around his waist and pulls him close. Harry smiles gratefully and noses at his collarbone. Harry loved this. He loved how things were never awkward with them. It was clear Louis didn't want to talk so Harry curled up with his hands on Louis bare chest. He loved that it didn't matter if he was taller, he was always the little spoon. He loved being cuddled. He loved how safe it made him feel, he loved feeling cared for.

"What are you thinking, love?" Louis mumbles sleepily pulling Harry closer.

"Nothing, just how grateful I am for you."

"Oh you're such a sap. Go to sleep." Louis almost kisses his hair but holds himself back.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Hello Mr Styles, Mr Tomlinson. Please sit. I'm Doctor Connor Jones." The man shakes their hands.

"Thank you for seeing us, Doctor."

"No problem. What seems to be the trouble, Mr Styles?"

"Err, well, I've been having lots of mood swings and I've been very nauseous lately."

"He's also had food aversions. Things he usually enjoys, he gets nauseous at the sight of them."

"Do you live together?" They nod. "Mr Tomlinson, is there anything else out of place that you've noticed?"

"Err well, Harry and I are very close and he's very... tactile. But he's been more so lately. Much more so." The doctor looks disturbed.

"Very well." He says with steepled fingers. "I shall run some tests and call you with the results. If you'll just follow me Mr Styles." He and Harry stand but Louis pulls Harry back down.

"What's wrong, Dr Jones? You suddenly look disturbed. Is there a problem. What's wrong with him?"

"Mr Tomlinson, I suggest you let the test results tell you that. I don't know what's wrong."

"Well then what are you testing for? You can't administer every test in the world."

"I'm doing some basic urine, blood and hormonal tests." Louis nods satisfied and lets go of Harry's wrist.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

_~3 days_ _later~_

"Hello?"

"Mr Tomlinson? This is Doctor Jones."

"Do you have the results, doctor?"

"Yes and it's very shocking."

"What is it doctor?"

"I suggest you come see me, right now. I just got the results."

"We'll be right there." Louis hangs up. "Harry come on, we gotta go to the hospital."

"What's wrong?"

"Doctor Jones wants to see us right now, he just got your test results."

"But isn't he always booked? I'm scared."

"I'm sure you're fine, babe. Come on." Louis drives them to the hospital.

"Hi, we just got a call from Doctor Jones. He said he wanted to see us immediately."

"Harry Styles?"

"Yes."

"Please go in. He's waiting for you." When they enter, he's studying some reports, presumably Harry's.

"Mr Styles. Please, take a seat. You too Mr Tomlinson."

"Mr Styles, are you dating someone, Mr Tomlinson perhaps?"

"Excuse me? I don't see how that's any of your business." Harry remarks indignantly.

"Please Mr Styles, this is strictly regarding your reports."

"Yes, yes I am. But it's not Louis."

"I think you should call him here."

"What makes you think I'm seeing a him?"

"Your test results. Please, I don't have time for petty games."

"It's fine doctor. You can tell me. We're, uh,-"

"It's irrelevant. It's his body. Whatever be his test results, he'll share it with his boyfriend later." Harry smiles gratefully.

Connor purses his lips. "Very well, I trust I can disclose whatever news it is in front of Mr Tomlinson in full confidence."

"Yes. He's my best." Harry says without hesitation.

"Alright then. I suppose there's no other way to put it. Mr Styles, you're- you're pregnant."

"I'm-I'm what?"

"Pregnant, yes."

"I- oh. Haha very funny, nice one doctor." Harry laughs.

"I'm serious Harry. That's why I called you here."

"I- I can't be pregnant. Tell him Louis. I- I can't."

"Redo the tests."

"Mr Tomlinson we rechecked every thing. Thrice. You're 7 weeks pregnant Mr Styles. I'll give you a minute." He leaves the room.

"Harry-"

"No, no this can't be. Louis I can't be pregnant."

"Harry, Harry, please, calm down, love, take a deep breath." Louis gets down on his knees. "It's okay, you're okay. Just breathe in."

"Lou-"

"Shhh, we'll figure something out, yeah. Let's go home first?"

"I- yeah okay." He gets out of the chair and walks out, almost running into Dr Jones.

"Thank you doctor. I'll be in touch with you shortly." Louis smiles tightly.

"Louis?" He turns out. "Here take my personal number. Call me anytime. I can only imagine what he's feeling right now."

"Thank you doctor. I really appreciate it."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Harry, baby, please stop freaking out. You've always wanted this, haven't you? Please, honey, let's deal with this calmly."

"Louis, I don't know what to do. I- I have to tell Mychal. But, I don't know Louis I'm scared."

"It's gonna be fine, love, do you need me to be there with you when you tell him?"

"Yes please. Can we go now? I just, I need to get this over with."

"Of course love, come on, get in the car, I'm coming."

"Okay, and Louis? Please don't tell the lads yet, or my mum."

"Never love, that's completely up to you." Louis slips open the test reports and looks at them. He lets out a sigh. He has a strong feeling this won't go over well. Putting on a brave face he goes to the car. "Feel better?"

"Honestly, no. I'm still nervous as fuck. We've never really discussed having children."

"What? You've been dating the guy four years and you haven't discussed kids? Babe, I was dating Nick for 1 year and we had discussed kids."

"I don't know okay? He just avoids the topic. But I'm sure he'll be happy. He loves me after all." Louis hums noncommittally and starts the car. "What?"

"What? Nothing?" He looks at him briefly.

"Why the dismissive sound?"

"Uh I beg to differ. It was a noncommittal hum. There's _clearly_ a difference." Harry rolls his eyes.

"Fine, why the " _noncommittal hum"_?" He does air quotes.

"Because I have nothing to say about that statement?"

"Oh master of grammar, and expert in human sounds, didn't you ever learn, you can't start a sentence with because?" Louis doesn't reply. "What big guy, no noncommittal hum now?"

"We're here." He finally says, tightly. "Go speak to him, I'll wait here."

"You think," he clears his throat awkwardly, "you think he'll accept me?"

"You say he really loves you. I'm sure he will. Do you want me to come along just in case?"

"I should be fine." Harry mumbles.

"Alright," Harry unlocks the door, "hey, come here, a hug just for good luck." He smiles gratefully and tightly holds on to him. "It's gonna be okay." He whispers in his ear. They pull apart. "I'll be here alright? If, er, when it goes well and if you're staying just text me okay."

"I will. Bye Lou, thanks so much for taking care of me." Louis smiles tightly. A selfish part of him wishes for him to be back but a bigger, much bigger part just wants him to be happy, just prays he'll be fine. Harry gets out and closes the door. He walks right up to the door and turns around. Louis smiles brightly giving him a thumbs up. He nods and takes a deep breath, ringing the bell.

"Harry? Hi, shit baby I've missed you so much." Mychal hugs him tightly and pulls him inside shutting the door behind them.

"Your cousin? Err, is he here?"

"He's out right now. He'll be home in an hour I think."

"Okay. Well there's something I needed to talk to you about."

"Of course darling, anything." Mychal sits on the couch. "Come sit." He pats the spot next to him. Harry smiles awkwardly and sits on the armchair opposite him.

"How do you, um, feel about having kids? Like right now."

"Harry," he exhales irritably, "did you come all the way here to discuss children. I don't want children right now."

"And what if you already had one?"

"I'd get it aborted or put it up for adoption. But since I don't have a child, that shouldn't be a problem." Mychal glares at him.

Harry looks down and plays with his fingers. "Mychal, I," he breathes in deeply, "I'm pregnant."

The house is silent. The only sound audible is their breathing. Then Mychal bursts into laughter, sadistic laughter. Harry nervously grips the material of the couch. "That's a funny joke baby, you almost had me for a minute there. If you wanted me to send my cousin away that badly, you should've just told me."

"I- I'm serious Mychal. I'm seven weeks pregnant."

"No. You. Aren't." He growls through gritted teeth and gets up. Harry quickly sends a missed call to Louis when he's mumbling to himself. "You're a boy, you bitch. I know you want to have a child desperately but guess what? You fucking can't. You're a fucking guy."

"Mychal shut up. I'm pregnant. I don't know how, maybe I'm a freak of nature but I'm fucking pregnant."

"You bitch, you think you can get pregnant and direct my life with a fucking child?" He grabs his arm furiously. "Bet you knew that, didn't you? You knew you were a freak. All the times you let me fuck you without a condom, you knew didn't you? You were waiting for this. But guess what? I'm not having it, we're getting you an abortion this very second." He drags him. Harry is panicking, he knows he can't physically fight him. Why isn't Louis here yet?

"Let go of him, Mychal." Harry looks towards the door and sags with relief.

"How the fuck did you get in Tomlinson? Get out. This is my child, I'll do whatever the fuck I want with it."

"It's mine too." Harry says strongly.

"Oh shut up, you bitch. You're nothing, _nothing_."

"Let go of him, or I'm calling the police."

"Oh really?" He lets go of Harry's wrist. "What are you gonna do now?"

"Harry, go to the car." He shakes his head. "Harry-" With Louis sufficiently distracted Mychal punches him in the jaw.

"Mychal stop!!!" Harry yells. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I don't want this child. I want nothing to do with it. So either you get rid of it or we're done."

"I guess we're done then, Mychal. Goodbye." Harry's voice breaks on the last word. He takes Louis' hand and tries to take him away. Louis turns around and punches him in the gut.

"That's for being an ass to Harry." Then he punches his nose, a sick crack resonating through the hall. "That's for thinking you could touch me and get away with it." And then he storms out, Harry right behind him. They both don't say a word till they're in the car.

"Oh my, oh my god, no. I'm a single parent, oh no. I'm a single pregnant parent." Harry buries his face in his hands.

"Harry-" Louis reaches out to comfort him.

He deflects, pushing his hand away. "No. Just- just take me home okay? Please." Louis nods and drives them to safety. Harry is out of the car the second he hits the brakes. He sighs and parks in the driveway, slowly walking in. He closes the door and locks it properly. After a short moment of consideration, he thinks better of it and goes to his room instead of Harry's. A while later, curiosity gets the best of him and he cautiously knocks on his door. "Go away."

"Harry, please, love let me in."

"Louis go away. I'm not harming the child or myself, I'll see you at dinner." But he doesn't. Louis doesn't see him till lunch the next day. He timely takes the meals to his room because he knows he's very capable of not eating. When Harry finally comes out, he's an absolute mess. His eyes are red and puffed and his nose even more so.

"Harry," Louis breathes out, "come here."

"I'm, uh, going out." He grabs his coat but Louis is there in a flash wrapping a hand around his wrist.

"You're not going anywhere. Not until we talk."

"Louis I can't do this okay. I need to see what my options are."

"You- you can't possibly thinking of an abortion." His hand falls limp.

"Louis I can't raise a child alone. I don't see what else can I do. I'm considering all my options."

"You're not alone. I'm here, I promise. Every step of the way."

"What happens when they ask for their mother? I'm a single, gay guy. A single, _pregnant_ _,_ gay guy. I can't Louis."

"You can. Of course you can. Harry, you've been dying for this. Praying and praying that by some miracle, you get pregnant. And now you can. Don't give up on your child." He places his hands on his shoulders and Harry looks down and bites his lip, a big lump in the back of his throat. Louis bends to look him in the eye, ignoring the tears. "I know it's unplanned and unexpected and just plain scary, but I'm here okay? Me and the boys and your family, everyone will be there for you." Harry nods slowly. "Good. Do you wanna sleep on it?" He stands up straight

"No I've slept a lot in the last 24 hours. I think I'll go for a walk."

"Okay and get yourself something to eat yeah?" Harry nods and puts on his coat. His hand is on the doorknob when Louis calls out. "Harry? I call dibs on godfather." He laughs, shaking his head and leaves. "What the fuck are you doing Tomlinson?" He groans to himself. "Dibs on godfather. Honestly. Fucking brilliant, might as well offer to be his witness for his future wedding and dig my own fucking grave." He shakes his head at his own idiocy and fetches his car keys from his room. He's just stepping out when his phone rings, making him trip over thin air.

"Mum!!"

"Louis! Hi, love, how's my favorite son?"

"Your only son, mum. Hopefully that will change this time 'round. How are you feeling? Are they kicking a lot?"

"A little tired. It does get tiring, four children in the house and two kicking my insides. I can't even blame Dan, poor thing, he works so hard."

"I'll come visit you soon yeah?" Louis sits in the car and puts the key in the ignition.

"You better, love. Haven't seen you in weeks. How's Harry?"

"Uh, he's fine. Um why?"

"Lou. What are you hiding? Did you both finally get together?"

"Ma!! First of all, there's _nothing_ like that between us-"

"Yet."

"Mum! And even if there was, you'd be first to know."

"But something did happen, right? You hesitated."

"Sorry mum. It's not my place to tell. Even Anne doesn't know yet. Maybe he'll tell you himself."

"Is it bad?"

"Really depends on how you take it."

"You're making me nervous."

"It's fine ma, really. Ma, listen, I'll call you later, yeah? I need to check in at work. Been a little swamped recently."

"Alright. Bye, Lou. I love you."

"I love you too mum." Louis hangs up with a smile on his face.

 


	4. IV

"Hello? Mum?"

"Harry? Oh my god. How's my baby? You never call anymore."

"I'm sorry mum. It's been a rough couple of months." He sighs and smiles at an old lady sitting on the bench. He continues walking on the park path.

"Is- is everything okay?"

"Well, today was the worst. Me and Mychal had been fighting a lot recently. And I kinda broke up with him today."

"I'm so sorry, love. How are you feeling?"

"I'm scared but otherwise I think I'm better off."

"What are you scared of?"

"I'm gonna come meet you tomorrow okay? I'll probably come with Louis."

"Don't deflect, Harry," Anne scolds sternly. "What are you scared of?"

"I'll tell you then ma, I'm not deflecting. Kinda hard to give such big news over the phone."

"Well I suppose I'll see you at lunch tomorrow, then?"

"Yes I'd quite like that. See you ma. Bye, I love you."

"I love you too, dear. Tell Louis I miss him." Harry smiles softly and hangs up. Deciding to check up on the old bakery he used to work at before, he sets off into a jog.

"Barbara, hi. How are you?"

"Harry? Oh my god, love, is that you? Come give this old lady a hug." She laughs jovially.

Harry laughs and hugs her lovingly, placing a kiss on her cheek. "Old? You don't look a day over 25."

"How are you here, sweet boy?"

"Just missed you."

"Oh you sweet, sweet boy. You were always my favorite. Much better than _my_ good for nothing grandson." Harry laughs softly.

"Actually if you don't mind, I'd really like to join again."

"Of course, I told you, the very day you resigned. Whenever you want, you can rejoin. How's that boyfriend of yours?" She asks with distaste, beckoning him to follow her to the back.

"We, err, actually broke up today."

"And good riddance too, love. He was a bad influence. Insecure, and so possessive a young man. Charming, but he didn't treat you right."

"I guess." Harry shrugs hesitantly.

"How's Louis? He came in last week, you know? He's such a lovely person. It was really crowded. Some kind of big tourist group, so he just got behind the counter and started helping without a word. I never even got to thank him. He looked really upset though."

"What!? Why?"

"I don't know, he looked like he'd been crying. His eyes and nose were red and he was sniffling."

"Oh my God. Did he say something?"

"No. He was gone before I could ask him about it."

"Oh. I'll talk to him about it. So, can I join from tomorrow?"

"Of course love, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you Barbara, you're amazing." Harry kisses her cheek and makes his way out.

When Harry reached home, Louis was nowhere to be seen. Harry pouts and texts him.

_Where are you?_

He switches on the TV and plops down on the couch. Putting on the new season of The Flash, he settles comfortably.

**At work. You're home?**

_Yeah just got back a while ago_

He lies diagonally on the couch, hand unconsciously coming to rest on his flat stomach.

"Haz, wake up, love."

"Huh?"

"It's 10 pm, let's get you in bed, you're going to hurt your back."

"When did you get home?"

"Just now."

"Let me fix you something to eat."

"It's okay. I ate with Liam." Louis helps him up.

"Can I sleep in your room?"

"You've been sleeping in my room for the past three days... is there a problem with yours?"

Harry rubs the back of his neck. "It smells funny."

"It smelled completely normal to me earlier."

"I don't know, it's too weird. It smells like I don't know, flowers and cinnamon."

"Babe it's your room, it smells like you."

"No it just smells weird. I like how yours smells, it's not so in the face you know."

"Alright. If you wanna switch rooms, I don't mind."

"Louis, do you not wanna sleep with me?" He snaps. "If not, it's fine, just don't dance around things at 10 pm. I'm tired and I need sleep."

"Harry- no it's okay, I get it, you're pregnant, you're having mood swings, it's okay. Let's just go to my room okay?"

"Alright, fine, let's go."

Once they're settled in the room, Louis speaks up again, "I called Doctor Jones today. He says it's best if we shift to a gynaecologist. He gave me a number and said that when his wife was pregnant, there were days when nothing could comfort her, but this gynaecologist. I didn't book an appointment yet, in case you had someone else in mind."

"Can we discuss this tomorrow? I'm too tired. I've had enough excitement this week."

"Alright, do you want me to hold you?"

"I always do." Harry mumbles softly and Louis smiles, wrapping an arm around his waist and gently pulling him closer, hand resting on his tummy. "I've gained 6 pounds. I checked in my room yesterday."

"That's good, love. You should be."

"I know. It's- it's a good feeling. There's, of course, not much I feel physically except how heavy I am becoming, but emotionally it feels so much. I feel so amazing, well, most of the time." Louis smiles into his shoulder.

"I'm happy for you."

"Lou, I'm going to visit mum tomorrow. She says she misses you. Would you like to come along?" Louis thinks for a minute.

"I'll have to check with Liam, when are you thinking of leaving?"

"Say by 12? So I can get there latest by 2. I'm scared. How is she gonna take it?"

"I'm sure it'll be okay, Haz. She loves you."

"No, it's not that. I'm sure she didn't know I could get pregnant. I'm worried about that."

"Don't be, it's gonna be completely okay."

"There's also something I wanted to ask you about. Barbara was saying you were crying the other day, is everything okay?"

There is a short awkward pause. "Oh look, it's so late, we should get some sleep. I'm so tired, goodnight Harry." He turns away.

"Oh okay we won't talk about it but at least cuddle me."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"It's okay, it's okay, let it all out, love." Louis mumbles sympathetically rubbing Harry's back as he dry heaves over the toilet.

"I fucking hate that bitch. He got me knocked up and now I'm stuck vomiting my guts out every morning."

"It's okay. I'm here for you. You think you're done?"

"Easy-" he stops suddenly to throw up again. "Easy for you to say. You aren't the one gaining a hundred thousand pounds while throwing up everything you eat."

"Haz-"

"Are you coming with or not?"

"I'd love to come."

"Okay, I'd like to take a shower now, so.."

"Yeah, of course." Louis smiles and gets out of the bathroom.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Harry! Hi, oh my, how are you, my baby? You look absolutely radiant." Anne hugs Harry tightly.

"Hi mum. I missed you so much."

"Hello Anne."

"Oh lovely, you _actually_ brought Louis too." She hugs him just as tight. "It's good to have you home, love." A lump forms in Louis' throat.

"Thank you. It's great to be here."

They settle in the living room. "How are you both? Louis how are you dealing with J-"

"Ah ah ah!!" Louis cuts across in a high pitch. He quietly motions towards Harry.

"Um, okay. How are you, baby?"

"I'm good, mum. Where's Robin? And Gemma said she'd be here?"

"Robin got called in at work for an emergency. Gemma went out with friends."

Harry hums. "There's something I have to tell you. It's gonna be shocking but just please don't be mad."

"You're scaring me, love."

"I'm pregnant."

"WHAT?! Wait a minute. You're-you're what?"

"Pregnant. I know, quite the shocker to me too but I think I'm okay with it."

"Whose is it?"

"My god, mother, who do you think I am, it's Mychal's of course."

"How many weeks? I, this is happening too fast, I need to sit down."

"You are sitting, mum. And seven weeks, found out three days ago."

"You knew, Louis?"

"I was there with him at the appointment."

"God, Harry didn't you two break up? Does he know?"

"Yes actually. That's what we broke up over."

"I can't believe it. I guess you were right after all, Louis."

"Right? About what?" Harry looks back and forth between his mother and his best friend.

"The day you introduced me to Mychal, that very day I called Anne and told her you were in trouble. She was mad at me for weeks but..." Louis mumbles fiddling with his fingers.

"You knew he was going to hurt me? And you didn't tell me? Why would you do that Louis!!" Harry exclaims, hurt.

"I did, Harry. Don't say I didn't warn you! You always took his side, you kept fighting me for his honor. How long did you expect me to keep telling you he was toxic? And I wasn't the only one who told you. Don't pin this on me, alright?" Louis gets up angrily.

"Lou, sit down." Anne says quietly.

"I'm gonna give you two some privacy, you obviously have a lot to talk about. I'm going out back." Louis politely moves away, pulling out his phone as he leaves.

"Harry, you should go apologise."

"Well, of course you'd take his side, you always loved him more than me."

"Don't be silly, Harry. You know it's your mistake."

"Mum, I'll speak with him later. I didn't come to tell you about my breakup in person, I came to discuss about my child."

"Okay, yes you're right. Do you wanna stay with me for your pregnancy."

"I think I'm okay. Louis takes good care of me. He actually spoke to the doctor and took the number of a gynaecologist too but I wanted to ask you first. Who did you see when you were pregnant with me and Gemma?"

"I saw Dr Emili Spencer. She was good but cranky, not the best person. Knowledgeable but not comforting. Who's number does Louis have?"

"I don't know. Shall I call him?"

"What are you waiting for?" He gets up and goes to the backyard to find Louis on the phone speaking in hushed tones.

"Lou?"

"I'll call you later," he mumbles softly and hangs up, discreetly wiping his eyes and turns to face Harry.

"Is everything okay? Are you crying? Lou what's going on?"

"I'm fine Harry, stop worrying."

"Mum wants to talk to you." He says quietly. "And, uh, I'm sorry, I know it was my fault and I shouldn't have pinned it on you."

"Oh come here, silly." Louis pulls him into a hug. "Don't worry about it, okay? It's all good."

"Thank you," his voice is muffled by his shoulder. "I love you, Lou. You're my best."

"I love you too, Harry." Louis holds him tighter. He then pulls away. "C'mon let's go."

"Are you okay, love?"

"I'm fine, Anne. Thank you. Harry was saying you called?" Anne nods and Harry quickly gets up and leaves.

"Harry-?"

"No it's okay Louis, he's probably going to the washroom. I've been there. He was telling me that you got a gynaecologist's number?"

"Ah yes. Sara Matthews. Top of her practice. Bit pricey but 10/10 recommend."

"Oh, I've heard she's absolutely brilliant but Harry can't afford someone pricey. He just started working at the bakery. I'll have to speak with Robin."

"But he'd never accept money from you. You know he's too, well, self dependant to do that. Though I agree, he can't afford Sara on his current income."

"Louis I need you to help us. I don't want Harry being taken care of by some inexpensive doctor who doesn't know what she's doing."

"How can I help? Of course, I'm not going to let Harry opt for a useless doctor either."

"I'll talk to her, transfer some money into your account that will take care of her fee. There's a higher chance of him accepting money from you."

"Anne, if he finds out, he's going to be so angry!! He's going to feel terribly betrayed both by you and me. I can't do that. You should talk to him."

"Talk to whom?" Harry asks sharply.

"I'm just gonna give you two some privacy." Louis finds himself for the second time that day.

"No no, it's okay." Anne assures him. "Harry, the doctor Louis found is absolutely amazing. She's the best and at the top of her practice, but she's extremely expensive. Not someone you can afford on your current income. So I wanted to help you-"

"No. Mum I'm not going to take money from you. You know that. I'll just go to someone else yeah, I'm not taking money from you or from anyone else. I'll work three jobs a day, whatever it takes."

"Haz, you can't work three jobs a day. Not for long, at least. Once you're through with the second trimester you'll barely be able to work."

"How do you know?"

"Mum's just started with her third trimester. She quit work two weeks ago." Louis swallows around the lump in his throat.

"I can't take money from you, if I can't afford the gynaecologist, how will I support my child, I knew this was a bad idea." Harry buries his face in his hands.

Louis immediately hugs Harry from the side. "Hey now, stop that, H. Look at me," he crouches in front of him and gently pries his hands away from his face. "You're going to be okay, H. It's not that big a deal. Let Anne help you out, right now. Once you're back up on your feet, you can repay her, yeah? You've been through a lot, love. Stop beating yourself up, give yourself a break. It's not your fault, yeah?"

Harry sobs. "My- Mychal should be paying for all of this. He- he made me quit the job. It's his child too. He should be the one handling the expenses with me. Not my mum and m-my best friend."

" _Hey,_ " Louis drags out the word, quickly pulling him against his chest, "none of that, love. No tears, come on, you've gotta be strong. It's fine, darling, we're here now, okay? That's what family is for. Anne and I will be more than happy to help. Wait till Gemma hears, she'll want to help too, and the lads? They'll wanna help too. Instead of one asshole, you now have ten people who care about you. It's not a loss. Come on, stop crying, okay? Shhh, it's alright, it's okay to be scared." He rubs his back, shushing him till his crying calms down to little sniffles. "C'mon, let's get you to bed, rest, sleep on it, we'll think of something, yeah? It's okay to need help, Harry. It doesn't make you weak, just human." Louis helps him stand and takes him to his room.

"Lou?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you so much for being there. God knows how would I have handled myself if you weren't here. I'm glad you came."

Louis smiles softly, "rest, Harry."

"You handled him well." Anne says softly when he steps out of his room.

"Poor thing, he's scared out of his mind."

"What about you Louis? Aren't you scared?" He looks away.

"You know I am, Anne. I never thought this would happen. I can't even ask her not to. She loves him. I'm gonna miss her so much. I'm gonna miss them."

"You should go meet her."

"Now? It's three hours from here." He looks in the direction of Harry's room uncertainly.

"Why doesn't he know, Louis? You know he's going to be heartbroken."

"I can't throw that at him, not now, he's got too much on his own plate."

"He loves her like a second mother. You can't not tell him such a big thing, Lou."

"What happened to Jay?" They both turn towards the door, finding Harry standing here.

"Harry?" Louis laughs nervously. "I thought you were asleep."

"Louis, what happened to Jay?"

"I- uh- she, she's moving. To the States."

"WHAT?!"

"Uh, yeah."

"How long have you two known?" He looks at his mother accusingly.

"About two weeks." Anne mumbles.

"How could you not tell me? And you, Louis? Is this what Barbara was talking about?"

"Yeah, that's when I found out. Dan is being transferred, it pays better and with the new set of twins coming along, they need all the money they can get. I kept insisting that I could help out, it is my family after all but mum kept refusing, saying it's my hard earned money. What else am I earning it for?" He sighs rubbing his forehead. "I- I don't want this, I don't want money and not be able to help anyone. I have money but I can't help my mum, I can't help my best friend." He hides his face in his hands.

"Lou, you should go meet her and the girls. When are they leaving?"

"In three days."

"I'll come with you, I've got to see her before she goes. Mum, I'm so sorry I can't stay longer." He swoops in for a hug and kisses her cheek.

"No baby, it's okay. I'll see you later, I'm not going anywhere."

"Thank you for having me, Anne. I missed you so much." Louis hugs her gratefully.

"Of course, love. And after Jay leaves, if there's anything you need, you know where to come." She kisses his cheek and making him smile with gratitude.

"Bye, mum, I love you, I'll call you tonight, yeah? We may be able to talk more about my mess." He gives her one just kiss, then they're out the door.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Lou?" Jay asks, shocked.

"Mum!" He lets out a choked sob and hugs her tightly, tilting himself to avoid the baby bump.

"There, there, c'mon now love, you can't break down like this. You're my bravest baby aren't you? Shh, it's okay my boobear." Louis let's out a wounded sound on hearing his childhood nickname. He pulls away after a minute and wipes at his eyes.

"Harry?"

"Jay," he mumbles sadly.

"Come here now!" He hugs her, mindful of the bump too.

"M'gonna miss you so much. I thought we could be the housewife-y people and talk about baby clothes all day but..."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm pregnant. I thought I'd come over some other day to give you the news but I just found out you're moving and-" he shakes his head, cutting himself off. Louis had already disappeared inside.

They enter the living room after Jay is done squealing and being surprised and giving him a tearful hug and find him holding the twins in a crushing hug. All three of them are crying. "Come with us, Lou." Phoebe sobs.

"I'm gonna miss you so much." Daisy nods.

He pulls away gently and slowly, lovingly wipes their tears. "I'm gonna miss my little princesses too, but you know I can't come with. I have work here. Please don't cry, remember that story I told you both? About princesses having tears of diamonds? We can't let so many diamonds go to waste, can we?" They let out watery laughs. "I promise you, I'll call you every day, and we'll have long chats on the weekends, okay? And I'll come visit whenever possible. But you two have to promise to be good girls, and don't give mum a hard time, you know she's already so worried."

"Promise." He smiles warmly and hugs them again.

"I'm gonna miss my little monsters." He then starts tickling them making them scream and run. He chases them around for a while laughing madly and then sits on the floor. They sit beside him.

"Did you get us going away gifts?" Phoebe asks.

"Did you get me that bracelet making kit I wanted?" Daisy questions with sparkling eyes.

"GIRLS!!!" Jay chides.

They all laugh. "It's okay mum. Yes, I got you going away gifts. All of you," he then motions them to come closer and whispers, "even the baby twins." They squeal. "But, but, but, they're at home," they groan in disappointment. "I promise I'll bring them over tomorrow. Now before it's time for me to leave I'd like to meet my other idiots, where are they?"

"Lottie is out with her boyfriend, she's really shaken up and Fizzy is out with friends." Daisy immediately answers. "When will you see you after tomorrow?"

"I don't know, loves, soon hopefully. I'm gonna go check what mum and Harry are doing in the kitchen." He gets up with a smile. "What are you guys doing?"

"Jay was showing me your sonogram pictures. I'm so excited for this little one to show up on the screen." He smiles softly and rubs his tummy. Louis smiles at him fondly.

"It's too early for that, love. The first one is done around 18 to 20 weeks. There's still 11 weeks to go. They might do an early one for you since it's a male pregnancy." Jay says with a laugh.

"You'll come with, won't you?" Harry looks at Louis expectantly.

"Of course I will."

"Oh! It's-it's yours?" She asks, surprised.

Louis laughs. "No, don't be silly, mum. The father is just a dick. I can relate." Jay's eyes darken.

Harry awkwardly clears his throat. "Um actually, if you don't mind, I wanted to ask you something about... Troy."

She smiles warmly. "Of course, love. Ask away."

"How did you manage financially, you know, gynaecologist visits, baby stuff, bringing him up?"

"I had a lot of help from my mother. She was very understanding. Troy was good for nothing, he did no work and didn't accompany me to a single appointment. I actually met Mark when I was pregnant with Lou. We were friends for years before we started dating. He's an amazing guy, there were just no, sparks, after a while. Dan, on the other hand,-"

"Alright, mum as much as I love you and I'm glad that you're happy, I really don't need to know the details of my mother's love life." Louis holds his hands over his ears.

"Oh shut up. Are you going to stay the night?"

"I'll stay tomorrow. I think I'll just meet Lotts, Fiz and Dan, then I'll leave."

"Okay then, dinner?"

"Only if you make lasagna." Jay laughs which he takes for a yes. "And if it's okay with you?" He turns to Harry.

"Yeah, of course. In fact, I'm going to spend some time with the girls." He smiles and leaves the kitchen.

"You're even more in love with him now!!" Jay accuses the second Harry's out of earshot.

"What? Pfft, no! What are you talking about mum? I think your pregnancy hormones are driving you crazy."

"Louis."

"What?"

"I _know_."

"No, mum you don't okay? Harry is still completely shattered over Mychal ditching him, alright. He's going through a lot right now. He's financially unstable and refuses to take money from Anne or from me and I'm falling in love with the idea of starting a family with him. I was never, ever serious enough about a relationship to actually consider _this_. Ma, I'm not going to drop my feelings on him okay? He's got enough on his plate as it is."

"I just want you happy, love. He loves you just as much, I hope you know that."

"He's still in love with Mychal."

"He's in love with the idea of being in love. All of us are. We all love the idea of love. But you, Louis, you love him. Not the idea of loving him."

"I can't mum, not now, not ever. Not during his pregnancy, not when he has the responsibility of a newborn, not after. His child is going to grow up calling me uncle. And that's that. I'll just have to live with it, yeah?"

"Louis, he's not going to become a hermit. Trust me, any one who's been pregnant can vouch for this, there's going to be days when he just needs to be held and kissed and days when he's going to be so horny, it'll make him cry. He needs someone, okay? It's hell going through a pregnancy without a partner. I've experienced it."

"Mum I can't okay? I can't take advantage of him. He's, he's so happy, he's absolutely radiant. He thinks of me as his best friend. That's all I am to him, and I think I can live with that."

"But you don't have to, just tell him."

"Someday, ma, maybe someday. For now I'm just going to enjoy what I have with him." His phone rings and he pulls it out. "It's Liam, sorry I have to take this." He rushes out of the room. "Is everything okay?"

"Hello to you too, Louis." Liam rolls his eyes on the other end of the line. "But no, everything is not okay. Mr Sherman's file has disappeared. We have nothing to audit. Without that file we're missing nearly two hundred thousand dollars."

"Liam I gave you that file last week, how could you be so careless? We have to submit all the paperwork this Monday which is in three days, what is wrong with you??? How could you leave out one of the most important files till the last day."

"I don't know, Lou, I'm so sorry, man, there's got to be something we can do, I'm freaking out here!"

"Liam," Louis raises his voice.

"Everything okay?" Harry peeks into the guestroom.

He nods and takes a few deep breaths, "did you check everywhere? And I mean everywhere? Your desk, my desk, the file box, the files you gave the auditor?"

"Everywhere!!"

"Wait! Mr Sherman's did you say?"

"Yeah?"

"When was the last deposit?"

"25th June." He breathes in sharply.

"The one before that?"

"17 May and the one before that was 4 April."

"I have a soft copy in spreadsheet form till the April deposit," he swiftly exits the room and goes out into the garage, "I'm gonna mail it to you and then call Mr Sherman to send me a picture of the two deposit receipts after as proof for the auditor." He opens the door of his black convertible Porsche Boxster Spyder, kneeling on the expensive leather and searches through the glove compartment.

"Thanks Lou, you're a life saver."

"Eh, don't thank me just yet. I left the pendrive in my other car."

"What?" He groans, "which one?"

"The BMW." He mumbles.

" _Again_ which one? Because I have the keys of the Hybrid i8."

"The 7 series."

"You idiot."

"Yeah, yeah, tell the auditor to finish the other stuff, I'll get the proof and send you that and the spreadsheet when I get home."

"Okay, just send it today itself."

"Will do, bro, bye."

"Bye." He hangs up with a sigh.

"Is there a problem?" Harry pipes up from behind him.

"Liam lost an important file. I had a soft copy but even that's at home. I need to make another call." He locks the car and calls Mr Sherman.

"Good evening, sir. This is Louis Tomlinson, from Tomlinson-Payne Inc."

"Hello, Mr Tomlinson, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Well, Mr Sherman, I needed a bit of a favour."

"Is it time already for the next deposit."

"No, no. You know that is completely optional, anyway. Actually, I needed a copy of the receipts of the 25th June and 17th May deposits. If you could email the pictures to me?"

"Sure, Tomlinson, you're a good man. I'll do it right away."

"Thank you sir, have a nice day." He hangs up.

"Well?" Harry asks.

"I think I just might have saved our asses." He laughs, switching on his phone's data. Immediately, an email alert pops up and he taps it with a content sigh. After checking if the content is to his satisfaction, he forwards it to Liam.

"Everything okay, Lou?" Jay comes out of the kitchen looking worried.

"Yeah, no worries everything is under control. Sorry work emergency."

"It's alright love, I know you work really hard. Do you wanna go out with the girls, catch a movie or something? They're really grumpy since Dan packed away the Wi-Fi and electronics last night.

"We can just watch a movie on my laptop. I'll ask them. Harry is that okay with you, love?" Harry looks up at them, not moving from his place at the dining table.

"I think I'll take a nap, I'm feeling a bit queasy." Jay smiles sympathetically.

"You can go to our room, darling, the other beds have been put away." Harry smiles gratefully and gets up, nearly falling prevented only by Louis' warm hand on his back.

"You okay?"

"I feel, I feel a bit, lightheaded. There's spots in my vision."

"Okay, no, we're going to the doctor tomorrow."

"There's no need, Louis. I- I'm sure this is a normal thing during pregnancies." He mumbles, voice turning faint.

"Actually, it isn't, Harry." Jay says sympathetically.

"Babe come on, we're getting you to mum's room. Then I'm booking you am appointment with Dr Matthews."

"Lou, you know I can't." Harry pleads.

"No Harry, there's no room for argument. I'm calling up Anne if you don't listen. I'm sure if she finds out that you nearly passed out, she'd love to drag you there herself." Before he can protest, Louis firmly guides him to the room. As he tucks him in, he softly tells him, "it's okay, Haz, really. I have the money and I'd love to pay for your healthcare, alright?"

"Lou, it just doesn't feel right, I mean I should be capable of taking care of myself."

"Babe, we're not talking about a cold or a slight fever, we're talking about a child. I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. Say, I make you a deal. I give you the money and you, uh, you, you accept it!!" Harry glares at him unamused.

"I let you pay but you let me pay you back even if it's in installments of £20."

"Harry-"

"It's either this or nothing at all."

"Ugh, okay. Now get some rest, alright. I wanna spend some time with mum before she leaves."

"Yeah of course. And thank you, Lou. I'm very thankful to you. _We_ are very thankful to you." He smiles hand resting over his stomach.

"Oh good lord, give me strength." Louis mumbles, hopelessly endeared. "Sleep Harry." He runs his hand through his hair and steps out of the room with a smile on his face.

 


	5. V

"Hi Doctor Matthews. I'm Louis Tomlinson, this is Harry Styles."

"Hello Mr Tomlinson, Mr Styles, please sit." Louis pulls out the chair for Harry.

"Careful." He murmurs softly.

"Well Mr Tomlinson, when you called, you said that it was," she consults the file, "an emergency?"

"Well, yes. He, Harry, he's been feeling lightheaded and getting spots in his vision."

"That's, not good, Harry. I'm just gonna order some blood vitamin tests." She pulls out a syringe, some cotton and rubbing alcohol.

After disinfecting the syringe and cleaning Harry's skin, she inserts the syringe and draws some blood.

"Have you both taken the basic necessary precautions for a pregnancy?"

"Not really. I just found out three days ago so I hadn't got around to it. This is our first visit to an OB-GYN."

"Alright, that's completely okay. You're seven weeks pregnant, I hope you know that?"

"I do."

"Well I'm going to give you some basic knowledge about you and your baby, Harry. This can be a stressful time, but you need to deal with it calmly. I can see your boyfriend cares a lot about you."

Harry laughs. "No, Louis' my best friend. But he does care a lot about me." Louis smiles tightly.

"Oh, shouldn't your boyfriend be here instead? No offense, Mr Tomlinson."

"Louis, please." He says politely.

"Uh, I don't have a boyfriend. We, we broke up." Harry looks down.

"Oh, I'm um, I'm sorry."

"That's okay, doctor, let's proceed, please."

"Yes, of course, please call me Sara. Anyway, at present, your baby is the size of a tiny blueberry. The baby's arm buds formed last week and they look like paddles at present. The baby is about half an inch right now and weighs less than 0.4 oz."

"So tiny." Harry mumbles softly making Louis smile fondly.

"You must have started gaining a little weight, just enough for your pants to start feeling tight and clearly you're lucky to have a pregnancy glow instead of a massive acne breakout. Over the next week, you're going to start having cravings. Remember, it's okay to submit once in a while but try not to. You may be nurturing another human but you only need 300 extra calories. Try going for healthy 300 as well."

Both Harry and Louis are listening intently. Louis is making sure to take mental notes, knowing that he's going to be the one running to groceries at 3 am.

"Your baby is already developing facial features and her or his brain cells are developing at an amazing 100,000 cells per minute. The baby has already started to move in small jerky motions but you won't feel this for about another 8-10 weeks. You can ask any questions that you have."

"Can I eat freely?"

"I'm glad you asked, Harry. This shows you're aware. You do need to be careful not only about what you eat but also how much you eat. I'm sure you know alcohol is a no. Fish too can have high levels of mercury so don't eat more than 12 ounces per week. Don't even think about eating swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish. Limit tuna to once a week. Be careful about medicines. A lot of medicines have 25% alcohol. This is something that Louis needs to keep an eye on. Avoid caffeine too. It's detrimental to you and can cause premature births or facial defects. Also don't smoke at all or be around people who are smoking. Even second hand smoke can cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome." The room is pierced with a sharp intake of breath.

"Well hopefully I'll finally be able to quit." Louis laughs, trying to lighten the mood.

"Avoid raw meat or fish, as in sushi and avoid processed foods like hot dogs or cured meats like ham and bacon. Be careful of saunas and hot tubs with temperatures above body temperature. If you have a cat, make sure you don't change the litter box and if you garden make sure to use gloves. Don't have your meat done below medium, take it well done, preferably. Oh and no substance abuse, Harry."

"That's a lot to be careful of."

"It really is. But since this is a male pregnancy, the chances of stillbirth-" Harry flinches, "or miscarriage are three times higher."

"W-what are the chances?"

"Well, at 4-12 weeks the chances that a male will miscarry are 15%." She says softly.

"Lou," Harry mumbles weakly.

"Hey, no Harry, you're going to be okay," Louis rubs his hand. "Really love, it's going to be fine, I'm going to take care of you."

"Also, I know that this sounds really bad and uh you probably don't want to hear this but I think it's best you you know. For males under 35 the chances of a miscarriage are as high as 45%."

Harry let's out a sound like a wounded animal. "Harry, no." Louis says firmly, holding his shoulders and forcing him to look at him. "Pull yourself together, sweetheart. You're one hell of a fighter, and so is your baby, okay?" Louis runs his fingers through his curls. "Nothing is going to happen to either of you, please don't stress, love. Will you please wait in the car, I'll fix the next appointment with Sara." Harry nods, getting up and leaving with a small thank you.

"Alright, I have some questions of my own."

"I'll be happy to answer them, Louis."

"How often should we be coming?"

"Well I suggest for the first seven months, you come at least twice a month. Then from week 28 through 36 once a week and week 36-40 twice a week. Of course that may be altered according to the development of the baby."

"What are the chances of," he feels a lump form in his throat, "of losing him during labor?"

"Well since he'll be having a Cesarean, the chances are higher than that of an epidural."

"W-what are the chances, doctor?"

"Don't worry, Louis. It's still a very low chance, it's only 0.006% chance." Louis sags with relief.

"And uh, what do you think could be the reason for his lightheadedness and stuff?"

"I think since the male body isn't really designed to take pregnancies, it could be because of vitamin deficiencies. Your number is there on the form. I'll have the results by tomorrow and I'll make sure to let you know. You have to make sure he doesn't stress too much about anything. Does he have a job?"

"Yes he works at a bakery."

"Make sure he's not there during rush hours and isn't waiting tables or anything."

"Thank you so much doctor."

"Of course, Louis. I'll see you on the," she consults her planner, "14th of August, that is day one of week 10."

"You will." Louis nods. "And um, the fee?"

She laughs. "Well, since the number of visits will be double, I should charge double but I won't do that because this case is not only extremely medically relevant but also very important to my studies and Harry's a nice little lad-"

"No I don't care about the charge, I was just asking how did you want the transactions? Session wise or all at once?"

"I charge by monthly rates. I'll text you my account number starting month 3, since this visit is already paid for, you can put in the transactions at the beginning of each month. So I'll expect the first transaction on the 1st, that is 4 days later."

"It'll be there. Thank you so much doctor."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Well, how much is she charging?" Harry asks once Louis starts the car.

"It doesn't matter, H." Louis groans.

"Louis-"

"Harry, please, you know you're not going to be able to repay it, just let me do this for you. You're gonna have to quit your job at the end of your first trimester and then you'll need a good 5 months of maternity leave, well, paternity? I don't know." Harry doesn't answer, instead, he rolls down the window and looks out. "Oh Harry, come on, you can't give me the cold shoulder for this."

When Harry doesn't respond, Louis just mumbles _great_ to himself and drives them home, all attempts at conversation met with cold silence. The second Louis unlocks the door to their flat, Harry goes to his room without a single look at Louis. Louis smirks at stares at the door which Harry just slammed. Within seconds the doorknob turns and Harry comes out all but gagging making Louis laugh loudly.

Harry silences him with a cold glare and goes to Louis' room locking it. Louis lets out a squawk of rage.

"Harold Edward Styles, you open this door right now, you can't lock me out of my own room." Louis commands.

"Looks like I just did Louis." Harry yells out.

"Oh alright, I was thinking we'd go visit the girls and mum before they left since I still have their going away gifts but guess you don't wanna come. Mum said the twins have really been playing footie inside." Louis says loudly.

"No Lou wait!!!" Harry comes out running. "I wanna go see Jay and the girls too."

"I know you too well, love. Do you wanna drive?" He asks going into his room

"Ooh I'd love to. Can we take your i8 please?"

"Sorry babe, we're gonna have to take the SUV. I need place to keep their gifts." He calls out grabbing the suitcase. Harry sighs sadly. "Sorry. You can take her for a spin later if you want."

"Really?" Harry yells excitedly.

"Of course, now quickly pack an overnight bag." Harry all but runs to his room wrinkling his nose at the smell and pulls out a duffel bag. He opens his cupboard and is hit by the smell of, well, him.

"Why did I ever think this was a good thing to smell like?" He groans. Right from the back of his cupboard he pulls out a jersey. It's Louis' football jersey from the charity match last month. He doesn't need it so Harry figured he wouldn't miss it. Sniffing it, he lets out a happy sigh. He rolls it up and puts it in his mini duffel. Next he pulls out a pair of boxers and gets his toilet kit from the bathroom. Zipping his duffel, he walks out, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Ready to go?" Louis asks, a similar mini duffel slung over his shoulder and a suitcase on the floor.

"Err, how long are you planning to stay there?"

Louis laughs. "This is just the gifts. Come on. Catch." Louis throws him the keys of his Range Rover.

Harry scrambles wildly trying to catch them but fails making him pout. Louis laughs and walks out. After getting the keys, Harry follows him to the garage and unlocks the SUV. Louis puts the suitcase and both their bags in the back and gets into the passenger seat.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"I'm gonna miss you mum." Louis mumbles tears in his eyes.

"Flight BA 139 to New York, USA is boarding from Gate 3. All passengers are requested to proceed to Gate 3 for boarding."

"I'll miss you too darling, but that's our cue to leave." Jay wipes his tears away lovingly.

"Bye Louis. C'mon girls." Dan gives Louis a hug which he returns half-heartedly.

"Lou!! I'll miss you. Please call me everyday, I love you." Lottie throws herself into Louis' arms. He wraps his arms around her tightly.

"We'll talk everyday, I promise." Fizzy joins in the hug letting out a sob. This triggers a group hug Phoebe and Daisy crying their eyes out.

"No crying girls. It's gonna be okay, yeah? We'll keep talking, you should go or you're gonna be late." He goes around for one last round of hugs.

"Take care of yourself, mum. And if you need any help, you know my number. Keep me updated on these little ones, yeah?" He kneels on the floor, placing his hands on her bump. "Hi there, loves. I'm very very excited to meet you and I promise I'll be there the second your eyes open. I love you both so much, don't give mommy too much trouble yeah?" He then places a soft kiss on her bump.

"I'll see you soon baby. Take care of Harry and for god sakes, tell him you love him." With those words his mother is gone. Along with his little sisters and Dan. Louis wipes his tears and makes his way out of the airport. He's just about to start his car when his phone rings.

"Hey Zayn." He answers half-heartedly.

"Louis!! Liam's disappeared!!" Zayn yells into his ear.

"What? When did he disappear? Why?" Louis jerks out of his sadness going into his protective friend mode.

"Today was supposed to be his and Sophia's fifth anniversary!!"

"Oh fuck! Did you check the place of their first date? And that secluded little park? Did you call Sophia?"

"I did everything I could!! Niall has been out searching as well. I'm gonna call Harry so he can help too. Sophia said she hasn't heard from him since they broke up but if she finds out anything, she'll call."

"Fuck okay. Did you, uh, shit, did you call Andy? That asshole could be getting high without me right now!"

"Shit, you're right, I'll call him."

"Okay you do that and I'm, I'm gonna go to, I'm going to the field where we all used to play football in uni."

"Good thinking. Niall just texted, he says he's going to his favorite club, just in case he felt like getting drunk. And I'm gonna tell Harry to go to, fuck, the banquet hall! Where Liam proposed, fuck okay."

"Hey hey hey, Zayn, calm down. He's going to be okay, he's a big boy."

"Lou, I - I love him. Of course I worry."

"I know, I know but there's no need to worry, he'll be okay, really."

"Oh shut up you fucker, you'd be worse if Harry was missing."

"Hey now, Harry's the baby. All of us would freak out more if Harry was missing, don't bring him into this. Go find that asshole. I'll call you if I find him."

"Yeah okay, same." With that Zayn promptly hangs up and Louis turns the key in the ignition, driving off to the field.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!" Louis yells.

Liam spins around and falls to the ground, giggling. "Lou!! Hi!! Come get high with me!!" He scrambles off the ground and stumbles over to him.

"Great he's high as fuck!" Louis sighs to himself, rubbing his forehead. High Liam is extremely happy and Louis really isn't in the mood for that.

When Liam reaches him he pulls him down onto the grass and passes him the joint. Louis sighs bringing it to his lips. He's just about to breathe in the weed because fuck he needs this when his phone rings again. He groans and passes the spliff back to Liam answering the call.

"Any thing?" Niall asks immediately.

"I literally just found him high as fuck at the football field. I'm bringing him home, tell Zayn and Harry."

"I don't wanna go home Lou. Here." Liam holds out the spliff.

"Shit, no Liam I can't. Sorry man."

"Why? You're no fun." Liam pouts.

"I'm- I'm trying to quit. Now come on, let's get you home." Louis stands pulling Liam up.

"Noooo, I'm not going home, I don't like that place."

"Li, you loved that place when you bought it, you were over the fucking moon. I had to convince you to not give all the employees a raise just because you bought a house."

"Yeah well that was before I was left all alone in a big place." He whines. Louis doesn't know what to say so he just quietly pulls him along.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Fucking asshole!! I was so worried." Zayn snaps the second Liam trips over the threshold.

"Don't yell Zaynie boo." Liam laughs.

"Don't call me that. Do you have any idea how freaked out I was?"

"I sorry Zaynie. Forgive your Liam?" He pouts making his way towards him.

"He's high as fuck isn't he?" He asks fondly and Louis laughs nodding.

"I think we all should go out and party, it's really not a good idea to leave him alone today." Niall suggests.

"Oooh yes, we should." Harry agrees excitedly.

"Haz you should be resting."

"He's 24 Lou, not 60." Liam laughs.

"Please Lou, a little fun never killed nobody." Louis shrugs.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Who's up for shots?" Liam yells.

"Harry and I will sit this one out, mate." Louis shrugs apologetically.

"Louis you know just because I'm not drinking doesn't mean you have to spoil your fun too." Harry frowns.

Louis laughs, sipping a Virgin Mojito. He takes Harry's hand. "Trust me, love, I'm having more fun than everyone in this club combined."

Harry snorts into his fruit punch pulling his hand out of Louis' hold. "You also seem to be flirting more than everyone in this club combined."

"You sure about that Harold? Do you not see Ziam?"

"I honestly feel sad for Zayn. Liam is so completely oblivious to how utterly gone Zee is for him."

 _That's ironic._ Louis thinks to himself.

Niall comes over to them. "Lou, come on, are you not going to have a single drink? The bartender has asked thrice about you. He's literally asking if you're interested. Come on, he's cute as fuck."

Louis leans over to observe the bartender. "Shit he is cute." Louis answers despite himself.

"Hey what about me?" Harry pouts.

"Well, his name is Harry too so that would be a little awkward, H." Niall laughs, "but if you want to, go for it."

"I'm gonna go over to him, yeah? I'll be back soon, Haz." Louis says his gaze focused on the cute blonde bartender.

"Yeah okay go over to the better Harry." Harry grumbles darkly.

"Aww come on, H. You know you're the best Harry. No Harry is better than you, okay?" Harry nods still sulking but Louis isn't paying attention anymore and he's gone off to talk to the cute bartender.

"Hi, what can I get you?"

"Just another Virgin Mojito and your number." Louis winks.

Harry laughs. "Cheeky. At least ask for my name first."

"I quite like 'cute bartender' if you don't mind."

"I'm Harry, Harry Foster."

"Louis T-"

"Tomlinson, fuck I know." Harry murmurs.

"Really? That's a first."

"I follow all your events and stuff. I think you're doing a beautiful job."

"Thanks, love, that's really nice of you."

"Um, Louis?"

"Yes?"

"Who's your friend, he's been giving me the stinkeye since you came over."

Louis turns around and finds Harry glaring at them darkly. He laughs. "That's Harry. My best mate and flatmate."

"Harry?"

"Yeah, I'd say small world but Harry is a pretty common name, yeah?"

"Suppose so." Harry answers not knowing whether to feel offended or not.

"So, what time do you, uh, ugh fuck me I can't do this. I'm sorry Harry, you're cute really, but I'm not really looking for anything right now."

"You're just talking to the wrong Harry." He laughs it off.

"Fuck is it that obvious?"

"The only more possessive thing you could've done was to pee on him." Louis laughs loudly.

"I'm not a dog, thank you very much. You know, you're nice, I'd like to hang out with you sometime, give me your number yeah?"

Harry nods, a cute little smile on his face and pushes his hair back, taking Louis' phone from his hand.

"I like your nose ring." Is the last thing Louis says to him before going back to, well, Harry.

"Oh look who's back." Harry mutters irritably.

"Oh come on H, look at him, he's so cute."

"Shut up." He snaps.

"Haz, come on, you know I love you." He grabs his hands.

"Please, I can see that." Louis rolls his eyes getting irritated with the way he's behaving, given they aren't even together.

"Harry, he literally just sent me back saying that I was talking to the wrong Harry."

"Yeah okay, and he totally didn't put his number in your phone."

"He did for- you know, I shouldn't have to explain myself to you, we aren't dating, I'm just your best mate like you make sure to remind me every so often." Louis snaps. "Just because your hormones are being a bitch doesn't mean I can't flirt with cute guys."

"Everything okay guys? You look like you're going to kill each other." Zayn intrudes before Harry can answer.

"Yeah everything's fucking peachy. I'm going home though." He gets up grabbing his coat.

"Fine I'll drive you." Louis gets up, his protective side immediately overcoming his anger.

"No thanks. You go flirt with fucking _Harry_. I can take a cab."

"Haz, I'll drive you, it's okay." He says softly.

"I don't need you Louis." He spits venomously. Louis closes his eyes taking in a deep breath. When he opens them, the calm blue has changed to a stormy one and that's when Harry knows he's crossed the line. Louis doesn't say anything, he just simply walks away, going back to the bar.

"That was low, Harry. You shouldn't have said that." Zayn murmurs.

"Whatever. I'm going home. Tell that asshole that he better be carrying his own key otherwise he can freeze outside for all I care."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Dude what's going on with Harry?" Zayn asks, making Louis look up from where he's in deep conversation with Harry.

Harry gives him a confused look. "Um -"

"Not you, love," Louis murmurs softly, then turns to Zayn, "sorry bud, really not my place to tell you, did he leave?"

"Like two hours ago."

"Shit, I should go too. In case he- uh- I should go. Sorry, Harry, let's meet up sometime yeah?"

"Yeah definitely." Harry mutters confusedly his cute Australian accent hitting Louis hard.

"Bye Zee." Louis gives him a quick hug and after doing the same for Niall and Liam, he leaves.

"Oi Harry, open the fuck up mate, this isn't cool." Louis yells, banging on his door, much like he's been doing since he entered the flat.

"I'm not going to open, just stop it Louis." Harry's muffled voice comes through the door.

"Harry come on, I'm exhausted. Let's talk this through."

"I don't wanna see your face. Go to _Harry_ , maybe he'll open his bedroom for you."

Louis' hard gaze softens. "H, seriously love, what is this about, please open the door."

"Please Lou, I don't wanna talk about it."

"Alright, we won't talk babe, but just open the door. I'm really tired." Louis waits for a moment before the door swings open to reveal Harry wearing his jersey and a pair of shorts with his hair all over the place. The jersey barely even fit him and ended at his hips, revealing his laurel tattoos. "H-"

"Shh!!" Louis gives him an offended look and opens his mouth to speak again. "Shhhh no talking, only sleeping." Harry says and Louis shrugs pulling off his jeans and shirt, throwing them into the plush armchair by the window and crawling into his side facing away from Harry. Harry taps his shoulder, making him turn. "Cuddle?" He asks shyly.

"No cuddling only sleeping." Louis answers angrily.

"B-but you promised. You promised you'd be there for me." He says his bottom lip trembling.

"Harry you can't take advantage of that. You can't expect that you can act all bitchy with me for no reason and then ask me to cuddle you just because you're pregnant. I'm not letting you get away with that. I care about you, a lot, but I also know that we're just friends and eventually I'm going to start dating someone and you're gonna have to deal with it. You might meet someone before I do and I accept that okay?"

"It's- it's really not that." Harry mumbles.

"Then what is it H, please explain it to me because I'm having a hard time understanding it."

"It's just that he's Harry too. And he's cute. He has a fancy accent and he's independent and he's not- he's not a burden and he's got that cute nose ring and he's funny and you were saying that you were having the best time and the next minute you were off to chat him up. He's everything I'm not. I just, I don't."

"Oh H you lovely silly boy. He can never replace you. No one can because no one gets me like you do. No one understands that my tea needs to be milk first or that I just don't like being organised unless it's work or, or that I won't eat anything but pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. No one dares come near me when I'm mad except you. You're the exception to every rule sweetheart and that's why Harry can't replace you no matter how cute his accent or his nose ring is. The only reason I took his number was because I thought he'd be fun to hang out with. And, love, how many times have I told you, you're not a burden, not even close. I take care of you because I like to not because I feel the need to."

"Promise me you won't leave?"

"I promise, Harry." Louis kisses his forehead gently. "Now come, give me a cuddle." Harry smiles softly and snuggles into his side. "I finally know where my jersey went." Louis whispered in his ear making him squirm prettily.

"I hope you don't mind?" He mumbles, pressing his nose in the crook of his neck.

"Of course not, looks much better on you anyway." He rubs his back gently.

"Lou? How was it?"

"What?"

"Saying goodbye to Jay?"

Louis takes in a shaky breath. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I- uh,- I almost got their flight canceled. I, fuck, I completely forgot it with Liam disappearing and then everything else but fucking hell, they're a continent apart and I don't know when I'll see them next. I promised that I'm going to be there when the twins are born. But fuck, I'm not gonna be there, those guys, they're probably not gonna recognise me when- if, if they ever come back. I- it's, it's just not gonna be the same. I'm going to have these siblings who I was always there for and suddenly there's gonna be this new set of twins that I'll hardly ever see. I mean, what if they do happen to like me but think I don't adore them as much as I do because I'm never around?"

"Lou, that's not true. They might resent you for a bit but eventually, they're going to understand, eventually, they'll see that you wanted to be there, you just couldn't. Sleep on it, Lou. It's all gonna be okay, yeah? I promise." Louis nods and pulls Harry closer.

"Thank you, H. This means a lot to me." Harry hums his acknowledgment and presses a soft kiss to his collarbone.

"You're the best big brother out there, let there be no mistaking that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The harry I'm talking about here is harry foster from MasterChef Australia. I had to put him in I love that cutie so fucking much.


	6. VI

Louis jerks awake in the middle of the night to an empty bed. "Harry?" He gets out of bed to check the bathroom but finds nothing. Then, he checks his room, just in case, but nada. Finally he checks the living room and kitchen finding both empty.

He runs to his room and grabs his, phone off the nightstand. 3 am. He calls Harry and curses loudly when Harry picks up.

"Hello to you to Louis." Harry mumbles sleepily.

"So sorry for waking you, love. I was calling my flatmate Harry. I'll have to change your contact names."

"At 3 am?" Harry laughs. "You guys sure have an unconventional relationship."

"No, he's just kind of disappeared. I should go. I need to find him. Bye!"

"Bye..."

Louis sighs. All his conversations with the Australian always end up with him being confused. Shaking that off he calls the other Harry nearly throwing his phone when it starts vibrating on the opposite nightstand.

"Fuck me, where did he go?" Just then he hears the lock click and jumps up. Grabbing the first thing he sees, a pink dildo, he pauses. That's not his. "Harry you bloody fucker." He groans, still wielding it like a weapon and walks out, ready to ambush whoever entered their flat at 3 fucking am.

Seeing a tall figure standing in the kitchen he hits him hard in the back.

"Ow fuck. What the fuck Louis!!" He turns around, hood falling down.

"Harry?"

"Yeah it's me, who did you expect? Why do you have my dildo in your hand?"

"Where the fuck were you!!"

"Went to the grocery store." He mumbles.

"What? Why?"

"Was craving a kale and spinach smoothie."

"You can do that?" He asks lowering the dildo.

"What?"

"Crave healthy shit?" He tosses it onto the couch.

"Apparently." Harry shrugs, getting back to blitzing the smoothie, munching on raw kale.

"You fucker do you have any idea how worried I was? You just disappeared without your fucking phone."

"I'm sorry, I just didn't wanna wake you." He mumbles.

"Oh H. I really appreciate it, but please let me know the next time yeah? I was so worried."

"I'm sorry," he mumbles chopping up some more kale.

"That's o-"

"Ow!" Harry drops the knife, rushing to the sink.

"Shit, are you okay, H?"

"No I cut my finger."

"Fuck." Louis grabs his hand from the spray of the water. The second it's out of the stream, blood starts to stream.

"Ah!" Harry pulls his hand back under the water. Louis pulls a small first aid kit from one of the shelves and unzips it. "There's no point Louis, it's bleeding too much, you can't bandage it."

"Please I'm Louis Tomlinson, I can do anything." Louis grabs a some cotton and wets it, pressing it onto the cut ignoring Harry's sharp intake of breath due to pain, even if it hurts him. The blood just doesn't stop, soaking through it in minutes. "Alright, this isn't going to work," he drags him into the dining room, pushing him into one of the chairs. "Hold this." He replaces the pressure of his hand with Harry's, quickly getting the first aid and pressing more damp cotton on it. "Hold your hand a little higher, at shoulder level."

Harry silently obeys each order. With slower blood flow and pressure, the bleeding finally stops. Louis gently removes the bloody cotton and applies some fresh cotton with a little ointment on it. Then he quickly bandages it, wrapping gauze around it. "There. All done." He places a kiss on his finger. Harry bursts into tears.

"Shit, baby, why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?" Louis bends to hug him.

"No, it's just, you're so _nice_ to me and I keep getting you worried and you take care of me and now I just miss Mychal." He sobs uncontrollably.

Louis' eyes turn stony at the mention of Mychal. "Harry, oh love, come on let's get you to bed." He tries to get him to stand but he just can't stop crying. Louis sighs softly and reaches under Harry's knees and lifts him bridal style.

"What are you doing?" He sobs into his shoulder.

"Getting you to bed." Harry wraps his arms around his neck.

"But my kale and spinach smoothie!!" He mumbles thickly.

"I'll finish it up and bring it to you, don't worry." Louis carefully enters the room and puts Harry on the bed going back to finish up the smoothie. "Here you go," he says handing him the tall green glass.

He drinks the smoothie, wiping away his tears. Once he's finished, he places the glass on the nightstand and curls up against Louis side, tucking his head into the crook of his neck. Louis sighs softly and pulls him close.

"Feel better, babe?" Harry shakes his head. "It's okay, yeah? I'm here."

"Miss Mychal." Louis can feel tears on his neck.

"I know you do, babe. It's going to be alright. He doesn't deserve you."

"Baby doesn't have a father." He mumbles sadly.

"Baby has you. Baby has me. Baby doesn't need Mychal, yeah?"

"You'll take Baby to football matches? You'll teach Baby how to play? Will you eat whatever Baby cooks with me even if it's burnt?"

"Of course I will. I'll also tuck Baby in at night and kiss Baby's forehead and check under Baby's bed for monsters. Baby will be safe with us, yeah?"

"I love you Lou, please don't leave us."

"I won't, H, I promise yeah? Get some sleep. You have work tomorrow." Harry nods and crawls under the covers, Louis following suit.

Louis stays awake long after Harry had slept thinking about what he was doing to himself. He couldn't imagine his life without Harry, he couldn't imagine not being there for him or not waking up to his sweet face. He can't imagine doing this for anyone else. He can't imagine falling in love with someone else. And that's when he knows he's fucked. Because one day, Harry's going to find someone who's not him, someone else will have Harry. One day Harry will be someone else's to hold, and Louis will just be an Uncle to Harry's child. And that thought itself is enough to bring tears to his eyes, make him hold on tightly to the man he loves and continue living a dream for another day.

He wakes up with Harry missing again. Yawning, he gets out of bed and walks to the bathroom. Harry is showering behind the curtain. "Morning, Lou." He peeks out.

"I see you've taken over my bathroom too." Louis mumbles, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and picking up his toothbrush.

"I just like your soap."

"I'll remember to get some for your bathroom."

"Is it a problem?"

"No, just that you know, we're paying for water and electricity in your room too."

"Then you should stop, because I'm not leaving anytime soon." With that he returns to his shower.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"And just like that he's taken over my bathroom too." Louis groans throwing back another shot.

"Easy there, tiger." Niall laughs.

"No Niall, you don't get it. He's making it so fucking hard to not tell him I'm crazy about him."

"Tell him Lou. Believe it or not, he's equally crazy about you. He's not going to get anyone better than you."

"But what about his ch- his church!!" Louis quickly covers up.

"His church?" Niall asks, not having noticed the slip up.

"Yeah you know, they're against homosexuals and all." Louis says nervously.

"Louis, you're just being ridiculous, now." Louis rolls his eyes. Only if he knew that his church wasn't the problem. "Oh and guess what?"

"What?"

"I got promoted!!! I'm Head Chef!!"

"Oh my god, Ni, that's great!!" Louis gives him a hug.

"I know!!! I'm having a party tomorrow. Well not party so much as a celebratory lunch. You and Harry better be there." Louis nods in agreement.

"Definitely." Niall opens his mouth to say something but is abruptly closes it. "Everything okay?"

"Holy fucking shit, will you look at that girl." Louis turns around and sees a gorgeous girl in a short red dress with thick thighs and endless legs. She's got short dark hair and almond shaped eyes. And of course the thing that attracted drunk Niall, big boobs.

"She's pretty." Louis says offhandedly.

"Pretty? Fucking pretty? She's fucking sex on legs that's what she is." Niall downs a shot. "I'm gonna to talk to her."

"Talk, yeah okay." Louis snorts and is proven right almost immediately. The girl is literally hanging off Niall. He sighs, knowing he won't be back and grabs his coat, getting out of there.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"To the new Head Chef, Niall!!" Louis raises his glass and everyone follows suit, Harry with sparkling water instead of champagne.

"H? No champagne for you?" Liam asks surprised.

"Nah not really feeling like it." He lies.

"Haz, don't you think you should tell them?" Louis murmurs.

"I don't know I'm a little nervous."

"How long will you hide it? Once you start showing, they'll know and they're gonna be hurt."

"Hm, I guess you're right. But should I tell them now? I don't want Niall to feel like I'm stealing his thunder."

"Better now than never, love." Louis shrugs. Harry nods and clears his throat.

"Guys there's something that I need to tell you all." He says quietly.

"Is everything okay?" Zayn immediately asks.

"Yeah, uh- kind of. I'm kinda, like, pregnant." Harry mumbles the last word.

"Wait you're what?" A golden mist of champagne flies out of Niall's mouth, making him cough violently.

"I'm 8 weeks pregnant."

"Oh wow, how long have you known?" Liam asks, shocked.

"Not long actually. I found out a week ago."

"And how long did you know?" Zayn questions Louis suspiciously.

"A week." Louis mumbles.

"Is it, um, his?" Niall asks shiftily, still coughing a little.

"Yeah." Harry mutters.

"Mychal's?" Liam queries tentatively.

"Yes." Harry answers tightly.

"What are you gonna do with it?" Zayn's question follows.

"Can we stop referring to my child as it?" Harry snaps furiously.

"Hey hey hey, calm down, H, they're only looking out for you!" Louis rubs his thigh.

"By calling my baby it? My baby is a living being and therefore you shall use female pronouns for her for the sake of convenience although I know, she could be a he or a they or anything else for that matter."

"Alright I'm sorry, Haz. What are you gonna do with her?" Zayn corrects himself.

"I'm going to be a good father to her." Harry says decisively and Louis smiles proudly at him.

"How are you gonna raise her alone, babe?" Liam asks worriedly.

"He's not gonna be alone, he has me." Louis smiles gently.

"For how long, Lou?" Niall glares meaningfully.

"For as long as I can Niall." Louis replies pointedly making him back off.

"I just felt like you all needed to know, so every time I refused to drink, the situation wouldn't get awkward."

"Well, I'm not sure if this is an appropriate response but congratulations Harry." Zayn smiles genuinely.

"Thanks Zayn. It wasn't a very welcome news but I'm hoping to be a good father."

"You'll be a lovely Mumma Styles." Niall laughs.

"I'm a male, thank you very much." Harry answers coldly.

"H, tone down the hostility, he's joking." Louis commands, soft but firm.

"Well if everyone is announcing things, I'm moving in with Liam." Zayn says jovially breaking the tense silence. Niall and Liam jump at the opportunity to end the awkward conversation but Louis just turns to Harry.

"What has got into you, Harold?" Louis asks in an undertone.

"I don't know. It just seems like they're judging my ability to parent."

"Harry, you know that's not true, even if they were, there's nothing wrong with looking out for you. You're the youngest among all of us, a child is a big responsibility. Everyone in the group treats you and cares for you like their own baby. We're just worried."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"I understand, H. I know your hormones are fucking with you but you need to stop letting that come in the way of your relationships."

"I know Louis, I said I'm sorry, can we end this now?" Harry groans irritably.

"Alright, alright. Calm down yeah? You know getting stressed isn't good for the baby." He rubs his back soothingly and turns to Zayn and Liam. "What's this about you moving in with Liam?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Keep up, mate. We just explained it to Niall."

"Oh I'm so bloody sorry, I forgot to inform you that I'm talking to Harry." He remarks sarcastically.

Zayn rolls his eyes. "Liam was feeling alone at his place, my landlady was being a bitch, the heating hasn't been working so we figured, why not?"

"Yeah sure that's exactly what you were thinking, Zayn." Louis murmurs under his breath rolling his eyes.

"Oh shut up Tommo, will you?"

"Like you've got room to speak." Niall snorts. Before Louis can make a biting quip, Niall continues, "also, my folks want to celebrate in a proper adult way because 'grow up Niall you're not 22 anymore.' And honestly I don't think I can stomach a fancy dinner alone, I need y'all to help me out."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Oh thank God, you're all finally here!!!" Niall whispers gratefully.

"Yeah mate, hi! Congrats again!" Liam smiles hugging the distressed lad.

"Please just save me from this anyhow. Me mum's going crazy trying to entertain these people."

"Niall is that woman pregnant?" Harry asks, staring at a woman in the corner.

"Oh yeah!! That's Denise's sister. Do you wanna meet her?" Harry nods in awe.

"Be careful, H." Louis calls out softly as Niall takes him to meet the lady.

"Lou what are you doing to yourself?" Zayn groans.

"Oh Zayn shut up will you? I've barely even entered and I feel like I need a drink already."

"He's right, though, Lou. You're, fuck, you're in love with him and God you're being so bloody obvious." Liam says voice rising in pitch.

"Yeah well, not like it matters, he's hung up on Mychal and is oblivious as fuck anyway." Louis mutters.

"It's only a matter of time before someone else points it out to him. And you're going to kill yourself like that. He can't be blind, you're so bloody soft with him. You weren't like this with any of your exes. Do you remember Aiden? And Hannah? The time she fell down the stairs? Bloody hell, you were a shit boyfriend to her."

"Listen, stop making me feel bad about myself. I never liked her, or Aiden. I've loved Harry since day one, everyone knows that, except that dumb nut. And it's going to stay that way." Before either of them can say anything else, Louis makes his way to the bar.

"Hi..." He hears a soft shy voice and turns to face the source. It's a short girl with curly brown hair, hazel eyes and pink lips. She's wearing a lovely pink cocktail dress and nursing a margarita.

"Hey," Louis smiles at her, "you look familiar, do I know you?"

"Do you?" She pauses, "sass masta from doncasta?"

"Oh my god, is that, oh my, Geneva?"

"Yes!!"

"Holy shit!!" Louis pulls her into a joyous hug. "How are you?? Shit you've lost, I mean you've-"

"I know what you mean, I'm a hot mess." She laughs.

"Shit how long as it been? 10-12 years?"

"Sounds about right."

"Holy fuck what's that on your finger?"

She smiles shyly. "I got engaged."

"That's great, Eva!! To whom?"

"Um, do you remember Ryan?"

"The high school senior you were dating in 8th grade? How could I not? Him?"

"Um, no actually, his younger brother." Louis gasps.

"Oh my god!!! Shit I can only imagine how pissed he must have been." He cackles and Geneva smiles coyly. "So how do you know Niall?"

"I actually don't, Alan does, they're school friends too."

"Strange, Niall never mentioned him."

"Yeah well, Alan was surprised too." Geneva and Louis get lost in memories and catching up.

"Lou? Zayn and I are gonna head out yeah?" Liam interrupts them.

"What? So soon?"

"Soon? It's been 4 hours Louis!" Liam snorts.

"Has it?" Louis looks between him and Geneva and she nods laughing. "Oh wow. Alright, lad, I guess I'll see you later?"

"Yeah sure. Also you might wanna check up on Harry. That woman just left and he doesn't look too happy. Bye."

"Bye." Louis looks over to Harry who's sitting there with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Lou, I should be going too, Alan needs me to rescue him," she gestures to a drunk Alan.

"Yeah sure, I'll text you, you guys should come over for dinner sometime."

"Yeah definitely, I'll see you, I missed you." She reaches up on her toes and presses a kiss to his cheek hugging him tightly.

"Missed you too, Eva." He murmurs in her ear, hugging back for a brief moment, then making his way over to Harry. He quietly sits down beside him and looks at Niall having fun with all his old school friends. By now, almost everyone is gone. "Why the long face, H?" He asks softly. Harry shakes his head giving him a weak wobbly smile.

"Har-" Harry nudges his way under Louis' arm. "Hey, are you okay?" He pulls him close gently rubbing his back. He shakes his head and tucks his face into his chest.

"Don't wanna talk about it. Can we go home?"

"Of course we can, just let me tell Niall that we're leaving." Harry let's out a weak whimper. "Or let's just go." Louis says immediately and Harry relaxes.

"You guys leaving?" Niall stumbles over to them, slurring slightly.

"Yeah, Harold here isn't feeling to well."

"Thanks for coming guys!!" He falls onto them making Louis protectively shield the pregnant boy.

"No problem, Niall. See ya." He pushes him upright and leads Harry out.

"H, at least talk to me," Louis groans. They've been home for 2 hours and Harry has been cuddled by his side refusing to say a word.

"Please." He mumbles, his voice cracking.

"Please what, babe? Let me help you, just tell me what's wrong."

"I- it's nothing."

"Harry..."

"You really wanna know?"

"Yes."

"Fine. You know that woman I was sitting next to? She's 28 weeks pregnant. I was just talking to her about the father and turns out, I know him very well."

"What are you on about?"

"She said the father was Mychal. First I thought it must be Michael because they're pronounced the same right? But then her phone started ringing. It had a picture of her and my Mychal and the name was babe. She just smiled and said, sorry that's him and left."

"What?"

"I'm not gonna repeat all of that." He comments, his voice cracking.

"No oh my God baby, I'm so sorry. Fuck." Louis tightens his hold on him. He tucks his face in his neck, arms around his neck. "I'm going to kill that ass." Louis mumbles pulling him into his lap.

"He said he didn't even wanna think about kids but I guess he just didn't wanna think about kids with me." He laughs humorlessly.

"Harry, don't be like that." Louis gently pulls away, grabbing Harry by the shoulders. "Look at me." He puts a finger under his chin forcing his face upwards. He looks over his shoulder, refusing to make eye contact with him. "Harry, please, sweetie, just look at me." He looks at him, eyes shining with tears. "You should know that anyone, anyone would be blessed to have a child with you, alright? You have this beautiful rare gift and fuck H when I look at you I just feel so fucking lucky that not only do I know you exist but I get to see it in person. I get to see all of your beauty and your exquisite personality every day and I feel so blessed. So trust me, any guy who doesn't see your worth, isn't worth your time or tears."

"Lou I need him, fuck call me weak, but I need him." He lets out a defeated sob.

"You're not weak, love. You were with him for four years. That's a long time babe. It's gonna be okay though, yeah? You'll be perfectly fine."

"I just, I need someone to take care of me, I need someone to be around me all the time."

"I will, H, I promise I will. I'll always be by your side."

"Why are you doing all this Lou? Why?"

"Because I love you H, you're my best." Harry says nothing, just engulfs Louis in a warm hug.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I don't show or even say it often but I love you too, so much." Louis wordlessly rubs Harry's back till he falls asleep, his head resting on his shoulder, nose lightly rubbing his neck. He carefully lifts him up and carries him to his room.

"Lou?" Harry mumbles sleepily as Louis lowers him onto the bed.

"Yeah?" Louis freezes. When there's no response, he slowly stands up straight again and walks out the door, closing it softly behind himself.


	7. VII

The first time it happened was probably the first morning of week 9. For once Louis had woken up before his alarm. He'd lain there quietly with Harry snuggled up in his arms. "Morning." Harry had mumbled with a sleepy smile, stretching contently, nosing at Louis' shoulder.

"Morning." He smiled back, the sunlight doing miracles for Harry's already glowing skin. He turned on his elbow to face him. "Sleep well?"

"Perfect. Had an amazing dream." Harry went on to describe the dream while Louis gently rubbed his thumb over the soft skin of his hips. All Louis really saw was his soft smile, his bed hair and his pink, slightly wet lips. Before he knew what he was doing, he was leaning in, his hand on Harry's waist, a gentle pressure, not letting him move away. Harry's happy chatter slowly trailed off as he realised their ever decreasing distance. Louis had been inches away from his dream when the alarm began blaring loudly. Louis immediately jerked away and shut off the alarm, the spell broken.

After an awkward silence, Louis got out of bed and all but ran to the shower.

After near silence for two days, Harry broke the ice when he came back to Louis' room.

"Had a bad dream. Can I sleep here?" He murmurs. softly, walking in.

"Harry?" Louis mumbles sleepily. Harry repeats himself and after getting the green light from Louis, tucks himself back where he started to feel like he belonged, in Louis' arms.

The next time it happened, Harry was eating ice cream.

"H, you know you're not supposed to eat too much junk." Louis admonishes.

"Gimme a break okay, my baby wants some ice cream." Harry mumbles, pulling the tub close to himself protectively.

"Harry, come on, give me that." Louis says commandingly.

"No!"

"Harry, don't force me to snatch it."

"Be my guest." He sticks his tongue out. Louis angrily walks to him and Harry let's out an almost squeal like yell. Louis crowds him into the corner so he can't move.

"Here's what you're gonna do Harry. You're gonna close the ice cream tub, put it back in the freezer and put your spoon in the sink." Louis nearly growls. "Do you hear me?" He presses closer to him.

Harry pouts and places the spoon on the counter. "But-" he places a hand on his chest.

"Shhhh, no buts." He commands.

"I'm hungry." Harry mumbles.

"Let's make you a salad instead."

"But I want chocolate." He whines tugging on Louis' shirt.

"Honestly H, look at yourself, your mouth is covered with chocolate." Louis swipes his thumb across his bottom lip making Harry's breath hitch.

"Lou..." He whimpers weakly.

"Shh," Louis places a finger on his lips. Harry's arms go around Louis neck and he lets out a contented sigh. Louis removes his finger and cautiously wraps his arms around his waist looking for any signs of discomfort. Finding none, he leans in. With his lips centimetres away from Harry's, his phone rings. Louis closes his eyes in frustration as Harry immediately pulls his arms away. With a tight smile, he steps out of his personal space and pulls out his phone, stepping away to take the work call.

Things go downhill from there. Harry moves back into his room and refuses to come to Louis. The other day Louis found him cuddling with Liam and later, on talking to Liam, he finds out that Harry's been feeling extra clingy but just can't ask him for a cuddle because it's too awkward. Not knowing what to do, Louis fully immerses himself in work. He takes up the responsibility of bagging new clients, goes to meetings that don't require him, rechecks accounts that have already been audited, all just to avoid time at home.

"Louis you have a problem!" Liam snaps one day while Louis is quietly going through some records.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Louis says calmly continuing to go through them.

"Harry's appointment is tomorrow. You promised you'd be there for him. You guys have been weird for a week."

"Liam you have no idea what you're talking about okay? So shut up." Louis says anger in his calm voice.

"Then explain to me Louis. What is going on?"

"Alright, you wanna know? You wanna know?" He slams the file onto his desk and leans forward. "Alright then. Harry and I almost kissed okay? Twice! He was totally into it and both times he acted completely awkward afterwards."

"What do you mean 'almost'?"

"Well the first time my alarm rang and the second time you called me so yeah kinda broke the moment."

"So what are you gonna do now? Apologise to him? He's 10 weeks pregnant Lou, his hormones are really fucking with him."

"I know, I fucking know but I'm not gonna apologise for him nearly kissing me."

"Well will you at least go with him. He's been stressed the past whole week."

"I'll talk to him today." Louis murmurs going back to the records.

"Lou?"

"What now, Liam?"

"Go home, talk to him! Now!"

"Fine you're so fucking bossy." He slams the file again and gets up unrolling his sleeves and grabbing his suit jacket from behind his chair, slinging it on.

As he steps out, he gets a call. "Hi love!" He answers brightly.

"Louis, hi, how are you?" A sweet Australian accent carries through

"I'm good Harry how are you?"

"I'm fine I'm good. It's just that I had today off so I was wondering if you wanted to like hang out or something? If you're free?"

"Oh Harry, I'd really love to but I'm afraid I can't. I've got a few things I need to take care of. When can I make it up to you? Saturday?"

"I'm a bartender Louis. Saturday is my longest working day. Sunday?"

"Works for me. We'll work out a timing yeah?"

"Alright, bye." Louis hangs up with a small smile, entering the parking lot. Locating his car, he unlocks it and drives home, the stereo playing 90's music. "Harry?" He calls out, entering the house. No response. "Harry are you there?" Still no response. He stays quiet and listens for any kind of sound and is rewarded with a sharp intake of breath. "Harry is that you?" His head snaps to the right so fast he nearly gets whiplash.

Another soft sound comes from his room so Louis makes his way there. He gently knocks on the door, getting no response except for another whimper. "Harry!!!" Louis calls loudly, knocking harder.

"Lou!" A soft moan.

"H, I'm coming in." Louis warns praying to the gods he's not doing what he thinks he is. He slowly opens the door and oh. He's-he's sleeping. But the covers have been thrown on the bed and his boxers are massively tented with a big wet spot.

"Lou, please oh, yes!!" He has an arm thrown over his head, the star on his inner bicep visible. His lips are bitten red and a sheen of sweat covers his naked torso and God, Louis' never been so turned on in more 6 years of living with him.

"Oh good lord please give me strength." He murmurs to himself. Not knowing whether to wake him up and risk Harry finding out what he just saw, he decides to not risk it, instead waiting it out in the living room. That's when it hits him. Harry was having a wet dream- about him and holy fuck, he needs to breathe.

While Louis tries to recover from this discovery, Harry's too busy getting himself eaten out by dream Louis. He's so hard that if he wasn't asleep it'd be painful. "Shit, yes!!" He moans arching off the bed. "Please Lou, need you." He mumbles. His dream spell is broken when Louis pushes one finger past his tight hole. His eyes open like a flash. "What the fuck?" He murmurs to himself. "What the fuck were you dreaming about Styles? He's your best friend, fuck. Okay, grandma, puppies, death, grandma, puppies, death." He repeatedly chants and failing to get the vivid images out of his head, he gets out of bed and rushes to the bathroom immediately removing his wet boxers and turning on the cold water.

"Fucking hell." Louis groans throwing his head back against the couch.

"Louis?" Harry peeks out of their bedroom.

"Oh Harry, hi!" He stands up dusting himself off awkwardly.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had lots of work?"

"I uh I came to talk to you. Because, because uh well, your appointment is tomorrow right? And I-"

"I don't need your pity Louis." Harry scoffs.

"Harry you know this isn't about that-"

"Just shut up okay? Fucking shut up!!! Who the fuck do you think you are? Some big shot who's just gonna walk in here and oh look me I'm Louis Tomlinson and I like to show off with my money to "support" my pregnant best friend." Harry says mockingly with air quotes around support.

"Harry I don't get it what the fuck is your problem? I'm trying my hardest to make this work without seeming pretentious but it's like I can never win with you. If I don't come here Liam's on my ass about being a bad friend. Had I not come here, you'd be all about me being a promise breaker and a bad best friend. Now that I'm here, I'm a show off who's pretending to support my best friend who I happen to be-" he cuts himself off.

"Who you happen to be what Louis? Fucking what? Finish that sentence you asshole. You're a fucking coward you know that!!"

"Shut up! Shut up right now! I'm not a fucking coward all right? You know what's at the end of that sentence. And you know what else? You relate with it. So I'm not the coward here alright? If you don't need me with you at the appointment, fine, I won't go. I just wanted- want- want you to be safe- and happy."

"You know what would make me feel happy right now? You leaving."

"I'm not gonna leave." Louis says fiercely.

"Fine." Harry goes back into the room.

"At least talk to me." He follows him in.

"No." Harry plops down onto the bed and Louis follows suit.

"What did I do? I'm sorry I hurt you."

"You didn't."

"Then? Why are you mad at me?"

"I'm not. I'm just scared."

"Of what?" He takes his hands.

"Of this." Harry gestures to their clasped hands.

"Of holding hands?"

"Of- of being dependant on you." He frees his hands. "Of- of falling for you." And then he looks down.

"Would it really be that bad? If you fell for me?" Louis asks shuffling closer to him.

"I don't know. Would it?" It's a soft whisper. Full of fear and a little hope.

"No. In fact. I think it would be wonderful."

"I can't. I'm sorry Louis I just, I can't." Harry closes his eyes and turns away. Louis sucks in a sharp breath, eyes fluttering shut in defeat. He gets up and leaves the room. "No, Lou, come back. I'm not done."

"I feel stupid Harry. I feel so bloody stupid living this unrealistic dream. Please, don't make it worse."

"I want you with me tomorrow. Please."

"I- fine. I- I'm gonna stay over at Niall's today okay?"

"But-"

"If you need anything, call me at any time, I'll pick up." Louis assures him and then leaves without another word.

"So you just left?" Niall deadpans.

"What else was I supposed to do? He literally said he can't. And I get it okay? I know what he means. And that's why I didn't tell him. He's got a baby on the way. I'm sure there's enough on his plate without me adding to it."

"It's not easy to go through a pregnancy alone Lou. How do you think he's feeling right now?"

"I don't know Niall. I love him to death but I'm not gonna tell him that and make it officially awkward."

"He will date at some point you know. What are you gonna do then? And when he moves out? You realise with how close you live, you're practically gonna have a paternal bond with his child? What do you do when he finds someone else and takes that away from you?"

"I move on." Louis shrugs.

"You haven't moved on in 10 years you expect you'll be able to after practically fathering his child?"

"You tell me what to do Niall? I mean, what if all these weird signals he's giving me are only because he's craving companionship and his hormones are messing with him? What if later he gets mad at me. Because trust me, once I know what's it's like to kiss those lips and hold him knowing he's mine, I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to just friends."

"And what if he genuinely loves you back but is too scared to ruin what you both have?"

"I- I don't know."

"What's holding you back? What's scaring you?"

"Everything." He croaks, a tight lump in his throat. "I don't wanna hurt him."

"Lou, let's not talk about this anymore. Go to bed okay? You have to wake up early yeah?"

He nods. "Okay thanks for listening Neil, I really appreciate it. Goodnight."

Niall snorts. "Go to bed."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Hi Harry, how are you feeling?" Sara asks politely.

"Bloated." Is the sullen irritable response from him.

"That's okay. Over the next two weeks, your pregnancy glow is going to increase or well, you might just get an acne outbreak. And sadly the bloated feeling is going to increase too."

"Brilliant!!" Harry snorts.

"Have his mood swings been getting worse?" She questions Louis.

"Can't you talk to me? It's not like he's my boyfriend or my child's father!" Harry snaps. "And besides I don't _have_ mood swings."

"Harry don't be rude. Yes, Dr Matthews, they're much worse over the past few days.

"And have you been more stressed recently?"

"A little." He grumbles.

"Louis, have you been smoking?" She asks without even a hint of judgement.

"Um, I -"

"Louis please, don't beat around the bush, I'm not your mother or your counselor."

"Not around Harry." He finally mumbles.

"Aha that means you have smoked!" Harry points at him dramatically.

"Yeah okay I have alright? You're not the only one who's been stressed the previous week."

"You know that's not safe and now I'm supposed to trust you with myself and my child during the pregnancy?"

"Harry it was only like-"

"Boys, boys, please. Harry only second hand smoke is harmful to you, that is, if he smokes in your presence. If he's smoking away from you and from the house then you're at zero harm."

"I've only smoked at work. I avoid smoking at home anyway."

"Alrighty, let's get back to the baby, yeah? Let's talk about how big he is yeah?"

"She." Harry mumbles.

"We don't know the gender yet, Harry."

"I know but I'd like you to please use female pronouns for her. Just for convenience sake."

She wants to say that she used he for convenience too but she doesn't want to mess with a pregnant lad. "Okay no problem. When you last came, she was the size of a small blueberry over week 8 she turned to the size of a cranberry bean and then a cherry over the next week. This week she'll develop to about the size of a kumquat. That's 1.22 inches."

Harry smiles fondly patting his tummy.

"What about her development?" Louis asks softly.

"By the end of this week, she'll finally go from an embryo to a fetus. Her paddle like hands and feet will finally have fingers and toes and her bones will start to harden. She's also going to develop kidneys. Sometime this week or next week she's going to start breathing and her ears will slowly righten their placement. Her head is still disproportionately large but it'll even out with time."

Tears are falling hot and fast into Harry's lap. "H, what's wrong, love?"

He sniffles. "It's just, she's growing up so fast." He lets out a sob.

"Oh love, c'mere." Louis gets up and pulls him into a hug, bending over. Harry presses his head into Louis' stomach. "It's okay, love, you're okay, shhh, shhhh." He rubs his back gently smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry." He hiccups and pulls away.

"It's okay. It's good to be emotionally attached to the baby. Nothing better." Harry nods, wiping his eyes. "Now, Harry, have you been taking all the necessary precautions?"

"Yes absolutely."

"Has someone who can take care of you been around you at all times?"

"Mostly yes."

"Harry I should advice you to make that a complete yes. I've already told you you're at three times the normal risk of miscarriage, you need to be careful. Make sure you have someone around as much as possible." Harry looks at Louis and he stares back not backing down.

"Wasn't my fault." He says quietly.

"Also Harry I need to do an ultrasound."

"Really oh my god!!!"

"Yes, just to check the development and give you an approximate due date."

"Oooh okay that's great."

"But, there's a, um, catch."

"Alright?"

"It has to be, um, internal."

"He doesn't have a vagina." Louis states confusedly.

"Yeah so, I'll have to do an anal one."

"That's- uh- that's awkward. Can it be avoided?" Harry asks scratching the back of his neck.

"It's not something set in stone but since we're talking male pregnancy I'd really recommend it."

"Wouldn't an external one work?" Louis asks.

"We can try but at this stage when he's not even showing, the image might not be clear enough."

"I'd like to try an external one first, please."

"Alright, if you'll just follow me." Louis gets up and holds the door open for the both of them.

"Alright this will be a cold." She spreads the gel on his lower abdomen.

"Holy shit that's cold." He gasps grabbing Louis' shirt. Louis laughs and pries his hand off holding it instead. She moves around on his stomach with a probe thingy, tsking. She presses a little, still not getting a clear image. She presses harder. "That hurts." Harry winces, squeezing Louis' hand.

"I'm sorry Harry, I still can't get a clear image, we'll have to do this internally." Harry turns beet red looking apprehensively at the probe.

"It's okay babe, it'll be fine." Louis squeezes his hand reassuringly. "But I'm going to, uh, wait in the clinic yeah?"

"No!!" Harry tightens his hold on his hand. "Please, need you." He mumbles.

"H- I- this is really awkward." He mumbles rubbing his forehead.

"Please Lou, you promised you'd be there whenever I needed you."

"Don't emotionally blackmail me." He groans. "Fine okay, carry on Dr Matthews."

"Alright then. Harry will you please go change into these? Remember your underpants are not needed."

He nods tightly and does as required, using the bathroom. He silently thanks the gods for his desire to clean himself today because this couldn't have been more awkward.

"Alright." He mumbles and takes a deep breath as Sara elevates his feet.

"Just hold my hand. If it hurts or feels too weird, squeeze okay?" He nods and hides his face in Louis' shirt.

She wears her latex gloves. "Okay since I can't put this in directly, cause it'll hurt to much I'm going to uh, stretch you a little."

"No!!" He jerks up. "I mean, it's fine, I'll be fine. I uh- did- uh- _stretch_ myself this morning." He mumbles awkwardly and oh lord Louis is not okay with this information.

"Oh um, okay so I'm just gonna push it in yeah? It shouldn't be too uncomfortable since only a small part will be inserted." Harry nods. Sara opens a drawer and pulls out a condom and covers the probe with it, applying the ultrasound gel on top of it.

Louis swallows. This isn't really working well for him. Harry smushes his face back into his shirt and Louis gently threads his fingers through his hair. Harry flinches when the cold probe pushes past the right ring of muscle and squeezes Louis' hand. Once she's satisfied with the angle she stands up. A firm beating sound starts up as the image clears. Louis looks at the screen and gasps. "Haz. Look at this baby." He whispers.

Harry straightens and turns to face the screen. "My baby." He mumbles, reaching out to touch the screen. The head and the body can be clearly distinguished.

"Those little blurbs and his arms and feet, his fingers and toes are too small right now." Harry quietly stares at the screen, crying silently. "She's perfectly healthy and she's growing very well." Sara says quietly.

"Can I have some pictures please?" Harry whispers.

"Yes of course. Her heart rate is normal. And talking in exact terms your baby is due on the 11th of March next year." Harry nods.

Louis pulls out a handkerchief and bends down to his level, gently wiping away his tears. "Smile babe. She's healthy." Harry cries again when the probe is removed and the heartbeat shuts off. He sobs loudly. "Hazza no!! She's okay, she's fine, you just can't hear her because Dr Matthews removed the probe." Louis sits beside him and hugs him tightly. "Shhhh it's okay Harry, it's okay." He rocks him like a child, rubbing his back soothingly.

"M'sorry I'm such a mess." He sniffles.

"You're okay." Sara smiles gently and hands Louis the pictures. Harry quickly changes and thanking her, they both leave.

"I'm going to send everyone the pictures. The boys, mum, Gemma, oh and Jay!!" Harry mumbles excitably forcing Louis to take his eyes off the road and fond over the sweet boy. "Did you speak to Jay?"

"Yeah, I spoke to her a few times. She says she misses you."

"I miss her too." He frowns. "I'll call her today. Thank you so much for coming with me, Lou." He looks at him earnestly.

"Of course, love, I promised you I would didn't I? Do I get a picture as well?"

"Of course, you get the first picture." He smiles brightly. And yeah, Louis knows he's in deep shit, he knows he's digging his own grave but it's worth it. Harry's worth it.


	8. VIII

"Guys I was thinking, this weekend we should go somewhere. A road trip maybe. We haven't been out together in forever." Zayn suggests at dinner.

"Z it's literally Friday, where could we possibly go." Louis yawns resting his head in Niall's lap.

"We could go see some touristy places in London itself?" Niall suggests leaning back on the couch.

"That seems nice. I'm sure there's places we all wanna see but we never got around to it." Liam smiles.

"5 places then? One for each of us?" Harry pipes up from the armchair.

"Yeah okay cool. I vote for Sea Life London Aquarium." Niall responds immediately.

"What bullshit, Niall. I know you've been there." Louis snorts.

"So? It's been forever. Plus, this is my place so you can shut up." Louis purses his lips and decides not to say anything for a while.

"I've actually never been to London Eye." Zayn says.

"We should do that. It's been so long since I last went there." Harry says

"You were what, 17?" Louis smiles.

"Yeah." He hides a shy smile of his own.

"Is this some kind of weird foreplay, should we get out of here?" Niall laughs

"Fine, London Eye for me." Zayn concludes.

"London Dungeon." Louis and Liam say together and burst into laughter.

"Hypocrite!!!" Niall yells. "You just went like two years back."

"Fine. HMS Belfast." Louis smirks. "I get to go to London Dungeon anyway."

"What about you H? No special places you wanna see?" Zayn questions

"There are lots actually. I can't pick one." He murmurs sleepily.

"Pick two then." Louis smiles looking at him backwards, too lazy to get up from Niall's lap.

"Hey why does he get two?" Liam asks.

"Because one for him and one for the baby." Louis says matter-of-factly.

"Yeah it's got nothing to do with your-" Louis punches Niall in the stomach before he can complete that sentence.

"Royal Observatory and the Piccadilly Circus."

"Hey you've seen the Piccadilly Circus." Zayn protests.

"So what? My baby hasn't and she wants to see the circus." Harry fires back and Louis hoots and makes a burn sound.

"I've taught thee well." He laughs.

"Alright then. Let's meet at 7?" Liam asks, ever the early riser.

"Liam you have ten seconds to take that back before I stuff my socks in your dirty mouth, kick you out of my house and cut all ties with you." Louis snaps. "Let's meet at seven." He mocks with a face, rolling his eyes. "Honestly who even wakes up at seven?"

"I think Louis is one of the only corporate executives I know that is so fussy about sleep." Niall snorts.

"I'm the only corporate executive you know." Louis laughs.

"Hey I'm a corporate executive too!!" Liam pouts, offended.

"Liam, please, you're a freak Martian who likes to wake up before the fucking sun."

"What time are we meeting." Harry interrupts the childish banter.

"Not before 10." Louis exclaims absolutely.

"10 then?" Zayn asks.

"I'm good with ten." Niall says and Liam and Harry agree while Louis casts them distrustful looks.

"Fine." He sulks. 

"Do you guys wanna stay? It's pretty late?" Harry offers and they all accept. "You can take my room and the guestroom. And if you guys don't wanna share you pull out the sofa bed too."

"No, it's okay, Liam and I will share." Zayn smirks.

"Alright just don't fuck in my room." He sighs.

"Like you even use it anymore." Niall snorts.

He ignores him. "I'm going to bed, yeah? I'm tired."

"Alright, I'm with you on that one." Niall yawns getting up and stretching.

"Anybody for a game of FIFA?" Louis asks.

"I'm knackered, Lou, sorry." Liam gets up too.

"Zayn?" He turns to him.

"Sure, I can play one game." Zayn smiles tiredly.

"That's why you're my best mate." Louis cheers, tossing him a controller.

"I'm your best mate you get high with and play games with. Just like Liam's the best mate you work with and go to clubs with. And Niall is the best mate you go play sports with. And Harry's the best mate you're-"

"Okay yeah I get it you're all my best mates. Let's play." Louis cuts across him putting on the latest version of FIFA.

"On second thoughts, can we play Mario Kart?"

"I only play Mario Kart with Harry." He scoffs.

"Yeah when did that last happen?"

"Whatever." They select their teams.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"One more game, Lou, come on!!" Zayn pleads.

"Zayn, mate, you literally just lost 5 games consecutively. I think we should go to bed. We can play tomorrow after we get back."

"Fine." He grumbles, getting up and tossing the controller on the couch. Louis does the same and switches off the TV.

"G'night mate." He smiles, stretching.

"Night." Zayn yawns.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Fucking shit it's hot." Louis mumbles sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"Lou?" Harry mumbles weakly, snuggling closer to him.

"Why are you so hot, Harry?" Louis whines which wasn't supposed to come out like that but, okay.

"Thanks?" He looks confused.

"No like you're, hot, warm, you're burning."

"I'm freezing what the hell are you talking about." Immediately Louis reaches to feel his forehead.

"You have a fever." Louis murmurs softly. "I'm going to get a thermometer alright?" He throws the duvet off himself but Harry pulls him back.

"No it's cold don't go." He mumbles, shivering.

"I'll just be back yeah? Just give me a minute ." Louis promises, gently freeing himself from his grasp.

"Morning, Lou, up so early?" Liam asks uncapping a bottle of water.

"Yeah, Harry has a fever. Where are you coming from?" He gets out the thermometer from a drawer.

"Went out on a run. Tea?" He grins, wiping his brow.

"Yeah, sure, make a cuppa for Harry too, poor thing, he'll be needing it." With that Louis goes into the closet room and grabs an extra blanket.

"What took you so long?" Harry grumbles through chattering teeth.

"Sorry, love, was getting a blanket for you. I told Liam to make you a cuppa."

"Thanks." He mumbles outstretching his arms for the blanket. Louis unfolds it and throws it over Harry who holds on to it like a lifeline. "Cuddle?" He pouts and Louis mentally bangs his own head against the wall.

"Okay." he lifts the covers and gets under them. Harry revels in his body heat and hides his face in his neck. Louis pets his hair trying not to tangle his fingers in the bedhead. Louis has nearly fallen back to sleep when there's a knock. "Come in." He calls.

"Sorry, I just came with tea." Liam smiles.

"Thank you, Li." Harry croaks out, sitting up to accept the steaming mug.

"Of course, H, feel better yeah?" He drops a quick kiss on his head making him smile shyly. Louis glares at him till he leaves the room.

"My head hurts." He whimpers softly.

"Do you wanna sleep for a bit?"

"We were supposed to go out." He groans.

"That's okay babe, the lads will understand. It's not your fault you have a fever."

"I feel like I've let them down." His bottom lip quivers.

"No, you haven't, we'll go some other day yeah? I'll just tell them." Louis leans over to kiss his forehead but thinks better of it and quickly gets out of bed.

"What happened Lou? He was perfectly fine last night." Zayn asks worriedly.

"I know. If it doesn't come down in a few hours I'm taking him to the doctor. He feels really guilty though for "ruining" our plans, so if you guys would go make him feel better, that'd be great."

"Yeah of course." Niall immediately gets up and makes to their room.

"He'll be fine Lou. You look like _you're_ gonna be sick." Zayn murmurs sympathetically.

"I hate seeing him like this." He replies softly, both of them making their way to Louis' room.

"Morning Zayn." Harry mumbles weakly.

"Good morning, Haz." He smiles brightly.

"I'm really sorry I ruined our plans, guys. If you all want you should go on without me."

"Of course not, we'll go the next weekend, yeah?" Liam smiles encouragingly and Harry nods with a small smile.

"Do you want us to get out while you rest?" Niall asks.

"No, I quite like this." He cheers up considerably after that. They put on a movie and Niall and Louis go downstairs to fetch them popcorn and beers, juice for Harry.

"I want a beer too." Harry whines childishly.

"H, you know it can be fatal for her." Liam tells him disapprovingly.

"Ugh I hate this." He groans hiding his face in Louis' neck. Louis smiles fondly and rubs his side.

"Soon you'll be able to drink again, yeah? And besides, it'll be so worth it, H. You're gonna be a great dad." Harry mumbles something intelligible and cuddles closer to Louis. Completely unfazed, he continues rubbing his side and focuses his attention on the movie.

By the end Niall is sleeping on Louis, other shoulder while all three of them rest against the headboard and Zayn is snoozing with his head in Liam's lap who's sitting at the foot of the bed. "We're like a domestic couple with 4 children." He snorts.

Louis laughs, shaking his head. "We sure as hell have some overgrown children." Liam says nothing, gently stroking Zayn's hair.

"How do I even get out of this?" Louis whispers gesturing to both of his shoulders.

"Huh?" Niall asks sleepily, head jerking away from Louis' shoulder.

"Nothing, nothing, go back to sleep." Louis murmurs comfortingly, bringing his head back to his shoulder causing him to promptly fall asleep again.

"You've got such naturally fatherly instincts, honestly I'm so glad you're there for Harry."

"What are you implying, Liam? That Harry can't handle being a father?" Louis asks hotly.

"No, hell, no, Lou, calm down. I'm just saying, Harry's natural persona is more bubbly and you know, childlike and maybe even the mom friend sometimes. I don't know how is he both childlike and a mom friend but he just is. You? You're more of a protective father. He'll make a great dad, of course, but his child will turn out greater because she'll have both of you to look up to."

"That's, that's kinda touching, Payno. You've got me going all sentimental over here." At that moment Harry makes a soft snuffling sound, burrowing himself deeper into Louis' warmth.

"I'm just gonna let Zayn sleep here if you don't mind." Liam says, replacing his lap with a pillow. "I need to pee really bad." He grimaces, running to the loo. Louis tries to get comfortable without moving his shoulders but it's a seemingly impossible task.

"Liam help! Get Niall off me and rest his head on the pillow." Once they successfully manage that without waking him up, Louis gently lays Harry down as well and gets out from between them.

"I think we can safely leave them here for a bit." Liam says and Louis nods.

"What should we do?"

"We could finish off that file?" Liam suggests and Louis groans.

"I meant for fun, Liam, for fun."

"Oh... We could go watch a movie?"

"Sure, wait, what do you mean go?"

"Like in the cinema, Lou."

"And I'm sure you have something in mind."

"Yeah I wanna watch Mechanic."

"But isn't that like, old?"

"Yeah," he says in the 'duh' tone and rolls his eyes. "I wanna watch Mechanic Resurrection. I absolutely loved the first one."

"Okay but just leave a text on Niall's phone so if they wake up they know we weren't kidnapped. I'll just change."

"Do you have something I can- oh forget it you're tiny, I'll look in H's closet."

"Oh gimme a break, I'm big." He sighs, going back to his room to change. When he enters the room, he finds Harry snuggled up to Niall and feels jealousy course through him. But then he settles his mind by telling himself that Harry will always find more comfort in him than Niall and that's why they're flatmates.

He quickly changes into a pair of denim jeans and his favorite Skate Tough tank top. Before exiting the room he places his palm on Harry's forehead and smiles when he feels the temperature slightly lower. He's just about to leave when Harry grabs his hand and nearly makes him fall. With a little sniffle, he merely proceeds to sleep on Louis' hand.

"Louis what's taking you so long?" Liam whispers exasperatedly.

"Harry's asleep on my hand." He snorts.

"What?"

"I was just checking his temp but he grabbed my hand and fell asleep on it."

"Well pull yourself free, we're gonna miss the show." Louis nods and, nearly draped over Niall's body he gently pries his hand free.

"Let's go." He murmurs, straightening up.

"I hope Harry isn't contagious. Otherwise we're all gonna fall sick."

"No I'm sure he's not." They exit the room. Louis grabs his keys from the bowl in the kitchen and they leave, the door gently shutting behind them, locking itself.

Both of them mindlessly chatter on the way to the movies. "How far along is Harry now?"

"About 11 weeks." Louis smiles to himself.

"And your mum?"

"33-34 weeks I think?"

"Oh, when are you going to visit her? She could be due any day."

"I want to wait till the end of his first trimester. I know he wouldn't want to be so far from Anne right now so I can't take him with. The first trimester is riskiest." They get their tickets and wait for the movie to start.

"Honestly." Liam huffs.

"What?"

"Louis, you need to tell-"

"Liam please, we're not having this discussion, not again at least. I'm not telling him."

"How does he not already know?"

"How does you not know?" Louis fires back quickly.

"What?" Liam asks confused.

"Oh forget it. Sometimes I forget you're an idiot."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh look the movie's starting."

"Yeah- oh." Liam instantly looks away.

"What?" Louis turns to him.

"More like who." He murmurs softly.

"Who?" He looks around.

"Sophia." His voice nearly cracks.

"What? Where?"

"The one furiously making out with that girl." Louis' jaw falls to the floor. And yeah, sure enough Louis can see Sophia two rows below with her arms around a girl, making out with her.

"I guess both genders find boys unsatisfactory." Louis jokes.

"What?" Liam tears his eyes away from the girls.

"Well, Mychal left Harry for his girlfriend and Sophia has gone and got _herself_ a girlfriend."

"You don't think she was cheating on me or something?"

"I don't think so, Li. It doesn't matter anymore, yeah. You should focus on the movie, you really wanted to watch it, yeah?"

He nods and focuses his attention back on screen. Louis is unable to focus himself for even a minute, it's too boring. He doesn't even know the name of the main character. He's just going to fall asleep when his phone buzzes in his pocket. "Oh thank god." He says happily and pulls out his phone. It's a text from Niall.

_What have you gone to watch?_

**_Mechanic Resurrection_ **

_That movie is utter crap, why would you do that to yourself?_

**_Ask Liam. I was just trying to be a good friend. How's Harry's fever?_ **

_Not much better. He's been coughing constantly in his sleep._

**_There's some cough syrup in the bedside cabinet. Wake him up and give him to teaspoons. He's going to fuss, he hates it, but you're have to give it to him, is only gonna get worse_ **

_Fine and what about Zayn? He's cranky when he wakes up._

"How long till this dumb thing ends?" Louis looks up from his phone.

"Louis, we haven't even had intermission yet. There's more than half to go."

**_You'll have to manage it. Liam loves this stupid thing. There's more than half of it to go._ **

_Oh fuck okay. I'll deal with it._

After the movie ended, both of them exited the theatre, Louis yawning and Liam chattering away about the movie.

"Liam no offense mate, but I really don't care. That was the most boring movie ever. And that is included that stupid pottery documentary Harry made me watch last year."

Liam's jaw drops, feeling offended.

"Let's hurry home. Niall is alone with a sick pregnant boy and _Zayn_ he can only take so much."

"What do you mean and _Zayn_?" Liam asks getting even more offended.

"I mean that Zayn is a cranky ass when he wakes up and I'm left Niall in charge of giving Harry his cough syrup. I quite like the lad and I'd rather find him alive than Zayn and Harry standing victorious over his dead body." They get in the car and Louis drives them home.


	9. IX

"I'll be home late today, okay? I have a conference with this client from America." Louis tells Harry just as he's leaving.

"Alright, just don't forget your key." Harry reminds him.

"Of course. Call me when you get off work?"

"Yeah okay. I will. Bye."

"Bye." Louis hangs up and let's himself out, grabbing his keys just before the door shuts. Quickly calling Liam, he gets into his car. "Liam, I'm on my way to the coffee house, need something?"

"You gotta be in a good mood, when do you ever offer to bring me something from any coffee house?"

"Tell me before I change my mind." He warns.

"Yeah okay, I'll have a scone and-"

"Alright a scone for you." He interrupts starting the car.

"Oh come on, get me a coffee as well, please."

"Since you said please." Liam laughs and Louis begins to drive.

"How's Harry?" He asks pointedly.

"No Liam I'm not happy because of Harry I'm just in a good mood and I suggest you _do not_ piss me off because there is a six hour conference in three hours and you will get the brunt of my anger."

"Just looking out for you mate!" He says defensively.

"I'm not a baby Liam. I'm going to hang up now before I get mad and spit in your coffee."

"Classy." Liam snorts but is met with the telltale beeping sound. "That fucker hung up on me." He yells outraged.

"Everything okay, Mr Payne?" His secretary peeks in.

"Yeah everything's fine Celia, thank you." He smiles sweetly at her.

While waiting in line, Louis makes a quick call to his mother. "Hi baby, how are you?"

"Hi mum, I'm good, I miss you all so much. How are you and the little ones?"

"They've been restless lately," she smiles, caressing her bump. "Which reminds me, when are you coming, they're due sometime next week?"

"Oh my god, really? I'll book my flight today itself, I'll be there within this week." He says excitedly, ignoring the looks the people on either side of him give him.

"I'm looking forward, love, I- I gotta go. Daisy you come off the balcony railing right now-" Louis laughs finally putting his phone away.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Harry!! Come out here and give us a hand with service." One of the girls yells.

"I'm coming." He yells. "Mark can you please finishing icing these cupcakes? I gotta go."

"No man, I gotta get these cake orders out in the next half hour in fact I need you here!!!"

"Alright, alright, just give me two minutes yeah?"

Now being nearly 13 weeks pregnant, Harry was finally starting to show a little. He could cover it up with baggy jumpers for now but soon he'd have to quit because it's really not recommended for him to be working under such stressful situations. Today was going to be a long, long day and he had to stay till closing.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Alright Jamal I'm gonna need you to book me the first flight to JFK and arrange a pickup to downtown Manhattan. Just finish that up, then you can take your lunch. Also for the next 6 hours I'm unavailable to take any and all calls." Louis informs his assistant, typing away at his laptop.

"Yes sir, are you also unavailable for the whitelist?"

"Yes. I don't want any disturbances."

"Got it sir."

"Alright thank you Jamal. You're a wonderful assistant. Please immediately book the flight."

"On it sir." With this, he leaves Louis' office. Louis stretches in his chair and gets up with a yawn. He pulls on his blazer and makes to the conference room, shooting Liam a text to let him know he'd be there.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Barbara, can I take my lunch now?" Harry requests her.

"Not now, Harry, please, your help is needed in the back." Harry nods and ignoring the rumbling of his stomach, he gets back to work. It's four already, he can take it until closing. He goes back inside and pulls out a batch of the frosted cupcakes from the fridge and puts them out on display. Then he finishes boxing the birthday cakes.

"Okay everyone take fifteen." Barbara finally let's them have their lunch and Harry nearly cries with joy. He immediately grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and downs it in one.

He frowns rubbing his tummy. "I'm sorry baby." He whispers.

Sitting down he pulls out his packed lunch and microwaves it. He sighs sadly remembering the doctor's words. Stress is your worst enemy. Even more than intoxicants. He has another appointment 4 days later and honestly he can't wait to see how his little girl has grown.

For a moment his mind flickers to the 28 weeks pregnant girl who's living the life with Mychal and wonders if she even knew that he had another child? He doesn't mean to be bitter but it's hard not to. He pushes the thought out of his head. He has his family and he has his amazing friends. And of course inevitably thinking of friends directs his thoughts. to Louis. The lovely, _lovely_ , man who would go to the ends of the earth just to keep his loved ones happy. Harry wishes everyone has a Louis in life. A perfect son, a role model brother, an amazing best friend and probably, undoubtedly a charming boyfriend.

He remembers when Nick and Louis dated. God, Nick was so crazy about him. Endless incidents of romantic gestures, waking up almost daily to his sweet face and oh, he had all good things to say about Louis in bed. Not that Harry had wanted to know, _thank you very much_ but oh the things Nick told him. Who wouldn't want a piece of Louis. A small frown then overtook his sigh. He remembers Nick being shattered when they broke up, remembers clear as day what he told him. _"There's someone else Haz. He loves someone else."_ Nick had been inconsolable and Harry had nearly broken Louis' legs but he remembers how Nick told him they'd broken up.

 _"But of course, he had to do that carefully and sweetly too. Why couldn't he be an ass about it so at least I could hate him. Now he's just the one that got away. He was so good H. He took me out to dinner and treated me like a prince the whole time. Then we went back to his and oh holy mother of god. He was so gentle and so slow. I think it's the slowest we've ever gone. He kept telling me how amazing I was and how anyone would be so lucky to have me and after, he held me and told me that he had to confess something. He apologised so much, said there was someone else. He said he loved me so much but he couldn't lead me on if there were affections for someone else."_ Here Nick had broken down crying and Harry held his friend unable to even get mad at Louis. _"The worst part is, he felt so guilty. He kept telling me how lucky he was to have been with me. Told me he wanted to do this my way. I told him I needed him, begged him not to go, fuck H, I needed him so much. He-he took my hands and kissed the backs of them. Told me he'd stay if that's what I really wanted but he couldn't love me the same. Said it wouldn't be the same now that I knew that there was someone else and he knew that too. He kissed me sweetly and told me that he didn't deserve my love, told me to hold on to my heart and give it to someone who'd value it, who'd treat me like the amazing human that I am. And then he left, that's the last I saw of him for months."_

Harry sits there and wishes that he was the one breaking up with Louis and not Nick. He wishes he hadn't been shattered so completely. That he would've been treated like royalty before he was let go of, wishes that when he looked back, he could smile. And with moist eyes, Harry gets back to work.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Hello. This is Mr Tomlinson's office. How may I help you?" Jamal's clipped professional voice recited.

"Hey Jamal, it's Harry, can you get Louis on the line?" Harry asks pulling off his shoes and falling on the couch.

"Sorry Harry, I can't, Louis' in a very important meeting and his instructions are no calls whatsoever."

"He was telling me something about the whitelist?" Harry hints.

"He said no calls from them either." Jamal says in an apologetic tone.

"Oh that's okay."

"Can I take a message?"

"No, that's fine, thanks Jamal. Have a nice day."

"You too Harry." The line goes dead. Harry sighs, he knows better than to call Louis' phone, he knows he's got a separate phone for work and home affairs and always leaves his home phone in his office during meetings. The only person who has access to both his numbers is Liam.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"H? You need to wake up, love." Louis whispers.

"Huh?" Harry's eyes seem to be glued shut.

"You're going to ruin your back, Harry. Get up."

"Can't open my eyes." He mumbles turning his face into the couch.

"Harry please, I'm exhausted."

"Please carry me Lou." He mumbles.

Louis sighs and lifts him up. He simply flops against him not even bothering to wrap his arms around his neck. He carries him to their room successfully and gently drops him on the bed. He then opens the cupboard and pulls out the blanket, unfolding it. Finding Harry's little belly exposed, he smiles softly like he can't help it and pulls his shirt down to cover it. He doesn't even realise when he kneels by Harry's sleeping form and quietly watches him contently with his hand on his stomach.

It's only when Harry lets out a little snore that Louis jerks out of his reverie and pulls his hand away scolding himself out loud. "You can't get attached. The baby isn't yours, Harry isn't yours, you don't get attached to people you can't have. Stupid, stupid!!" He hits himself on the head. Once he covers Harry and changes out of his work clothes, he decides to start packing. After all, he leaves day after, well, technically tomorrow, given that it's already like 2 am. After he finishes packing he checks his flight confirmation just to be sure.

And oh shit, it's already 5 am. He needs to be at work by 10. Immediately he exits the tab, switches off both his phones and pulls the blanket over himself too.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Louis is woken up by the alarm blaring rudely. "Bloody hell." Louis grabs his phone and shuts off the alarm, checking the time. "7 am! Of course it had to be 7 fucking am!!"

He hears the lock click and that's when he notices – Harry's not in bed with him. He hears the clanging of pots and pans and gets out of bed with a sigh. Brushing his teeth, he makes his way down to find Harry boiling water in shorts and a T-shirt shirt, a headband holding back his long hair.

"Why're you even up so early?" Louis grumbles, startling Harry. He turns around and smiles at Louis, his pregnant belly obvious under the slightly tight tee.

"Went out for a run. What about you? Tea?"

"Fucking alarm. God knows who set it and why. Tea would be great. Also I'm flying out to the States tomorrow so you're going to be on your own for a bit."

Harry hums and then chokes on thin air. "What?" He asks coughing and smacking his chest, turning to face him.

"Yeah, mum's going to go into labor any day and I want to be there."

"And…let me get this straight. You're _not_ taking me along?" Harry places a hand on his hip glaring at Louis.

"I figured you wouldn't want to come along. Because, you know, you just joined a job and you have an appointment while I'm gone and all that."

"Oh that's just _great_! You aren't going to be there for the appointment either?"

"I don't know Harry what do you want me to do? Miss my mum giving birth to my fucking siblings _just_ to attend your OB-GYN appointment?"

"So now it's _just_ my appointment?" Harry's voice is rising in pitch.

Louis sighs ready to burst. Then he notices the red light go off. "The water is done." He says instead.

"Water?" He looks confused for a minute. "Oh the tea. He pulls out his mug and a tea bag, adding milk and the water and making his way to the couch.

"And mine?" Louis asks.

"You can make your own. It's _just_ tea."  Louis looks at him venomously and does just that.

"Tell me it wouldn't be the same way if the roles were switched? Tell me you wouldn't already be at the States had you been in my place."

"That's _different_." Harry murmurs.

"How is it _different,_ pray tell?" Louis spits out. He mumbles something Louis doesn't catch. "What was that?" He asks sharply.

"You don't need me like I need you." He says softly.

"What?" Louis steps closer to him.

"Don't make me repeat that." He huffs. Louis smiles gently and sets his mug down.

"C'mere idiot." Harry immediately does the same and rushes into his arms. "Silly thing. I don't need you like you need me. I need you _more._ " Harry let's out a soft sound. "I'll be a call away, H, you can always call me. It's one appointment, I know you can handle it." He rubs his back comfortingly. "I'll be back before you know it." Louis kisses his temple.

"Don't want you to go." Harry murmurs. "Need you." He holds on tight.

"I have to go, Haz, you know that. I'll be back soon though, yeah?"

"When?" He mumbles vulnerably.

"I don't know, love, haven't booked my return ticket yet. But soon okay?" He hugs him tighter.

"That means no cuddles till then." He frowns. "Can we stay in and cuddle today?"

"I don't know, I have to work." Louis hesitates making Harry pout. "But it's nothing Liam and Jamal can't take care of." He immediately melts.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Lou?" Harry looks up at Louis, pressing closer to his chest

"Yeah?" He asks sleepily arms wrapping loosely around his belly, pulling him in, head against the headboard.

"How do you think it's going to be like when she's born?" Harry smiles softly, turning in his arms to face him easier.

"It's going to be... Different. But you're going to be so happy and so in love. It'll be the best thing ever."

"And you? Will you be there with me? Every step of the way?"

Louis hums in agreement. "Of course, where else would I be?"

"You wouldn't leave me, would you?"

Louis doesn't hesitate. "Couldn't if I wanted to." And it's completely true. He's been in love with him since the day he saw him smile at the little girl at the bakery.

"Do you want to?"

"Nope. I love you and you know that." Harry blushes softly, hiding his face in Louis' chest.

"I know. I love you too." Harry mumbles sweetly. Louis' heart seems to be swelling. He wraps him in a hug, feeling his happy, sleepy warmth. "And Lou?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think happened with that girl he got pregnant?"

"Who, love?"

"Mychal." Louis stiffens.

"I don't know, H. But I'm sure they aren't half as happy as you."

"I wish they are."

"Why's that?" Louis asks straightening up.

"Well, Mychal left me for her and look at me now, I'm all happy and I don't want him to have cheated on me just for something that wasn't worth it. If he's happy, then at least me getting hurt was worth it."

"Oh Harold. You're-" Louis hugs him tightly.

"I'm what?"

"Sweet, amazing, wonderful, everything! You're perfect."

"I'm really not. If I were he wouldn't have left me."

"You're wrong there."

"Gee thanks." Harry smiles sarcastically.

"No no no that's not what I meant. He's an asshole Harry, he never deserved you and an arse like him would cheat on Beyoncé." Harry laughs. "You deserve to be treated like a prince, and he just wasn't doing that."

"Alright what do you want? What are you flattering me for?" He laughs again

"Just want you to be happy."

"I'll be happier when I know you're not going to be leaving in a day."

" _Harry..._ not this again."

"I'll miss you." He pouts.

"I'll miss you too babe."

"Will you call me before my appointment? And after it?"

"Of course I will." And a comfortable silence falls over them again.

"Lou?"

"Yes Harold?"

"Do you think Liam knows Zayn loves him?"

"No babe he's a blind idiot. He thinks Zayn's going through so much for him because they're best friends."

"But why?"

"Because Harry sometimes, sometimes what we feel is so beyond our understanding, so beyond human understanding that we don't convey it right and Zayn's love for Liam is something like that. It's so beyond even his understanding that it's second nature to both of them."

Harry smiles to himself. "I wish someone loved me a love beyond human understanding."

"Maybe someone does. And you just don't see it. Because it's beyond either of our- I mean your understanding." Harry thankfully doesn't notice his little slip up.

"But don't you think they're just meant to be? Aren't they?"

"Harry, if they're really meant to be then they'll eventually find their way to each other. All we can do is wait. I really wish they are though because Zayn loves him so sincerely, he'd give him the world. I've never seen such sincere love."

Harry hums, leaning back against Louis, conversation fading into comfortable silence.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Okay, H, if you get too nervous during the appointment, I want you to call me, I'll stay with you on FaceTime or something. And, if you need anything, anything at all, just call one of the lads. Also call me at any time you need to, I promise I'll pick up."

"I-"

"This is the last boarding call for flight BA 837 heading to New York. All passengers are requested to board the plane."

"I will, you go to your mum, take a break, enjoy yourself. And for God sake, calm down, I'll be okay." Harry places his hands on his shoulders. Louis nods and hugs him long and hard. He bends over and places his hands on Harry's stomach.

"And you, little one, don't give your father too much trouble while I'm away yeah?" Harry looks pleasantly surprised when Louis looks up at him. "I'm gonna miss her, is that weird?" He asks softly.

"No, not at all." It comes out choked.

"Bye, lovely, wait for me yeah? Both of you!" He straightens up.

"I'll miss you." Harry murmurs.

"I'll miss you too, Harry." He kisses his cheek. "I should go now, I'm going to miss my flight. Bye." With one last kiss to his forehead, Louis runs off.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Hi Harry. How are you? Where's Louis today?"

"I'm good. Louis' gone to the States. His mum will be giving birth any day."

"That's nice. You've started showing a bit. That's good too. Are you nervous? This is your first appointment alone after all."

"A little." Harry smiles. That's an utter lie. Before leaving the house, he was on the phone with Louis working himself into a fit of panic. He burst into tears and cried for a half hour and begged him to come home. Louis kept whispering soft words of reassurance to him, telling him he'd be there soon, telling him he was such a good boy, talking to him like a child before Harry calmed down enough to grab the car keys and get out of the house. And he fully intended to do the same when he got home.

"Okay then, I'm just going to perform some basic tests first."

"Tests?" Harry freaks out. "There were no tests the last time."

"I know Harry, but as we enter the second trimester, it's very important to test both your and your baby's health regularly. They are painless, harmless tests."

"O-okay."

After the tests are done, Sara smiles. "Everything seems to be in order. Would you like to hear a little about your baby's expected growth?"

"Yes please."

"Your baby is nearly three inches now. About the size of a passion fruit. And her muscles are developing super fast. I'm sure you often while sitting or sleeping rest a hand on your belly," Harry nods, "well when you do, although you can't feel it yet, she's kicking and responding to your touch, she's slowly building reflexes."

"Can we please do an ultrasound?" Harry asks with overwhelmed tears in his eyes.

"It's not necessary Harry."

"I know, I just want to hear her heart. Please."

"Of course, if you'll follow me." She leads Harry to the room and sets up the machine. "I think we'll be able to do an external one today." She spreads the cool gel on his abdomen and runs the probe over it. "Yeah, right here, look there's not much difference." When the familiar beat sounds Harry's smile is a million dollar one. The heartbeat suddenly stops and Harry's face instantly falls. And then it starts again, distinctly irregular.

"What's happening, Sara?" He asks, panicking.

"It's okay Harry, calm down, irregular heartbeat is common, your baby is okay, don't worry." Harry nods unconvinced. "Would you like fresh pictures?"

Harry nods again. She shuts the machine off and as he hears the beat stop, he feels his heart clenching with fear.

"Harry, really, she's perfectly healthy, there's really no problem, you should- wait."

"What?" Harry asks immediately.

"It's nothing, I'm sure it must be a fault with the image, it's really not possible."

"What isn't possible, doctor?"

"Her heart looks deformed, but I'm sure nothing's wrong. Just to be safe, I want you to come in next week so I can perform a fetal echocardiogram. She's too young for her organs to be completely developed but by next week, they will be."

"If it's a heart deformity then?"

"Then we'll put you on medication and have more regular checkups but there really isn't anything we can do, because anything that is visible at this point of time is an incurable congenital heart disease but don't work yourself up too much, it's probably an image defect, that's all."

"Can we do the ultrasound again? I want to make sure it's a defect with the imaging." She nods.

"There, and listen to that, her heartbeats are perfectly fine too! I told you, you were worrying for no reason. We're actually not supposed to do ultrasounds this early, it's only because male pregnancies are at increased risk that I did."

Harry smiles satisfied. "Thank you so much doctor." With a smile on his face, he leaves the clinic and drives home.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"So how was it?" Liam immediately asks, the second Harry enters.

"What the fuck? What are you all doing here?" Harry nearly jumps out of his skin.

"Well, since it's the end of your first trimester and the first time you went to the appointment alone, we thought we should celebrate. And we know you can't have alcohol so we made sure not to bring any altogether." Niall smiles wide.

"Wow guys, this is great. Thanks." He smiles warmly, no one noticing the slight worry in his eyes.

"I take it the appointment went well?" Zayn smiles.

"Yeah, yeah it was good. You guys get this started, I'll just change and come."

"Are you going to let Lou know?" Niall calls after him.

"Maybe later." Harry knows if he calls Louis now, he's going to start crying and not stop until he's got all his doubts out and comforted. He changes into a sweatshirt and baggy pants.

"You look... Comfy." Zayn comments.

"I am." He fires back.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Fucking hell I'm stuffed." Liam moans.

"Can't eat another thing." Niall agrees and Zayn can't even say anything.

"Did you enjoy Haz?" He finally asks.

"Yeah but I'm kinda tired now, wanna sleep." He murmurs.

"That's his way of saying thanks for feeding be but get the fuck out of my house now." Niall says.

"What? Oh my god, no. You guys can stay if you'd like, I'm going to sleep though."

"He's just kidding, H. I know you'll feel sleepier when you're pregnant. We should go lads, let him get some sleep." Liam says and they get up groaning and grumbling. With a hug and some final goodbyes, they are out and Harry is in bed.

He's close to sleep when his phone rings loudly. "Hi Lou." He answers excitedly.

"Hi sweetie, how was your appointment?" He asks lovingly and Harry can hear the smile in his voice, even then, his face falls.

"I don't wanna talk about it please." He snuggles into the pillow, which faintly smells of Louis' shampoo and aftershave.

"Lovely, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Louis gets up.

"Kind of."

"Haz you're really scaring me. Is she okay?"

"I-Lou-" he bursts into tears.

"Baby? What's wrong? Harry talk to me."

"Lou her heartbeat stopped." He sobs.

"What do you mean?" Louis' voice frantically rises in pitch.

"I don't know. Sara was doing an ultrasound and suddenly it stopped. It started up again but it was completely irregular."

"She's- she's _alive_ right?" He asks hesitantly.

"Of course Louis why the fuck would you even ask that?" Harry asks outraged.

"Can you really blame me? I call you up and you burst into tears telling me her heartbeat stopped."

"She's fine. The ultrasound imaging showed a heart deformity."

"What??? What do you mean? Harry what's even happening?" His voice is turning to pure hysteria.

"She said it was an imaging defect so I made her do it again and everything was okay, even her heartbeat was loud and regular-"

"So she's fine?" He interrupts sharply.

"I guess."

"Harry you had me so worried, what the hell."

"But her heart did stop." He reasons fearfully.

"H she's going to be okay, you know that right? If there was anything to worry about, Sara would've immediately told you."

"She called me back next week for a fetal echocardiogram. Can you make it back for that at least?"

"I really can't say, H. All depends on when mum has the twins. But please take someone along for the echocardiogram."

"I will. She'll be okay right?"

"Of course Harry, she's your daughter. Look at you."

"Come home soon." Harry whispers tearfully.

"I will love, as soon as I can. Get some rest yeah?" Harry nods although he knows Louis can't see him and hangs up.


	10. X

"Good morning, mum." Louis sleepily kissed Jay's cheek.

"Good morning, love." She smiles pulling his face against hers.

"What are the plans for today?"

"Well me and Dan are going to the hospital for a checkup and the girls will be going to school."

"And me?"

"Lou, you're old enough to do whatever you please."

"Hmm, then I think I should get some work done, wonder how Liam's holding down the fort on his own right now."

"My lovely boy, always working so hard."

"I have to, ma." Louis rolls his eyes. "I'm gonna go get dressed yeah?" He goes to the guestroom and takes a shower.

"Lou, we're leaving." Jay calls out as he steps out of the shower.

"All the best, mum." He yells back. Humming happily he changes into a pair of trackies and a loose shirt. Grabbing his phone from the shower he calls Liam.

"Hi Lou, how are you doing?"

"Perfect. How's work?"

"I'm doing well Louis thanks." He sasses pointedly.

"Yeah yeah whatever. How's work?" He rolls his eyes.

"Lots to do. So much to do."

"Anything I can help with?"

"Yeah actually. We need to send out the reminders."

"Sure okay. And what about that video conference with that Indian firm"

"Nothing confirmed yet. We should be hearing from them soon though. How's Jay?"

"Still very pregnant."

"When are you coming back?"

"Why Lima, do you miss me?"

"Nah, just waiting to pile the work on you."

"Absolutely no idea. Whenever the twins are born, I guess."

"Sometime this week? Later?"

"Really don't know Payno. She's due this week but..."

"Harry's going bat shit crazy. You've already been gone for 4 days."

"Fuck! I should call him. And there's s call waiting, just a sec." It turns out to be Jay. "Hi mum, everything okay?"

"They're keeping me."

"What do you mean, keeping you?"

"Well they say my uterus is too thin for them to let me come home, I could go into labor any minute."

"Holy shit, hold on a sec mum." He puts her on hold and switches to Liam. "Li, mum's gonna go into labor any time, I'll have to call you back." Without waiting for a response, he hangs up.

"Yeah mum I'm back."

"Alright, here's what I need you to do. When I go into labor, you need to drop Daisy and Phoebe at the neighbours. Dan has spoken to them. And then you can take the subway here with Lottie and Fiz."

"Ma, I love you but really, is this the time for a sandwich?" Louis snaps.

"The tube Louis, the tube!! Lottie knows which station to get off at. Stay there for now, explain the situation to them and then come here."

"Alright, you be careful, okay? I love you." He hangs up. He pulls out a duffel bag and stuffs a pair of pajamas and a fresh change in it. After contemplating whether or not to pack the girls' stuff but decides to leave it to them. A ping distracts him.

_1 new messages_   
_From: Dan_   
**Jay's in labor. Get here ASAP.**

While Louis is completely freaking out, his phone starts ringing.

"Harry not now, Jay's in labour."

"Lou? Please come home, fuck please come home, something is wrong, I need you. Please, please, please I need you."

"Harry, not now!!" He groans through gritted teeth. "I told you I'll come home when I can."

"Louis please, I -" he quickly hangs up on him and stuffs his phone in his pocket.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"How is she?" Louis asks breathlessly.

"In pain, they said they won't let me in till she's ready to push." Dan murmurs distractedly.

"She's gonna be fine. She's my mum after all." Louis reassures. His phone rings again. His work phone. "Great I got the wrong phone." He huffs. "What's up, Liam?"

"Louis, hi, this is important."

"Okay I'm listening."

"Harry, Harry- no Harry stop," there's some disturbance and Harry's raspy voice takes over.

"It's nothing Louis, sorry, I'm gonna hang up now." Before Louis can say anything, Harry does just that.

"Louis? Is everything okay?" Dan asks worriedly.

"Yeah, everything's fine." He smiles.

"Mr Deakin, you can come in now. Your wife is ready to push." The nurse peeks out.

"Oh thank god." He makes his way in, already clothed in hospital scrubs.

"Hey Lou?" Lottie whispers, Fizzy fast asleep.

"Yeah?" He turns to her.

"I'm scared."

"What?" He sits in the chair next to her.

"Mum will be okay right?"

"Of course, love, come here." He says softly and pulls her into his lap holding her tight against his chest. "It's gonna be okay, don't worry yeah?" She nods holding onto his shirt.

"Please don't go back." She pleads and Louis feels his heart breaking.

"I wish I didn't have to. I really do, Lots."

"I know I'm sorry I'm being selfish."

"No, you aren't. I'm glad you want me to stay. But you have to take care of the babies with mum yeah? I'll be here another week tops. I have to go home."

"But isn't home where family is? That's what mum always tells us. That's what you always told me." She accuses.

"I know I did. But half my family is back in London. Liam, Niall, Zayn, Harry, they're all back home."

"They're just your friends Lou."

"Lottie, don't say that now. " He strokes her hair. "You're too young to understand. Ever since I was your age I've been with these people. You must remember that I moved out when I was 18. I've been relying on them for support since. They're family. More than family."

"Can't they come with too?" She asks childishly.

"Lottie," Louis reprimands, "now you're being silly. Besides, I'm going to come over to visit. Just not as often."

"It's because of Harry isn't it?"

"I- _what?_ "

"You're not moving with us because of Harry."

"Lottie, that's absurd." He pulls away from her. "I- I haven't lived with you all for years, everyone knew that in case you all were moving I wouldn't be coming along. You knew it too! How could you even say that to me? Liam and I built up our company from scratch." He angrily gets up. "Half the shit you enjoy in life is because of that. Don't forget that Dan is not the one indulging every single whim of yours."

"I hate you. I can't believe you'd say that to me. I wish mum never married Troy. At least you wouldn't be born then." Lottie spits at him.

"Fuck you." Louis answers and storms out of the hospital, Fizzy still blissfully unaware and asleep. He walks around in the area, still seething over Lottie's words. He pulls out his phone and calls Harry but receives no reply. Instead of leaving a voicemail or a text, he simply shuts off his phone. Slowly, self doubt starts to settle in.

_Is he really that bad? Would it be better if he didn't exist?_

Louis shakes his head telling himself he's being ridiculous. Lottie was just angry and upset. They'd always been very close to each other but when Louis picked his job and friends back in London over her, she felt betrayed.

Lottie felt horrible. She knew it wasn't Louis' fault that he couldn't be there. And she also knows that given the choice, she would have stayed back in London with her boyfriend. Louis was old enough to make his own decisions and even if he was staying back for Harry, it was his decision. He was right when he said he indulged her every whim. Since Louis started earning well, Lottie had whatever she wanted the second she said she did. Dan disapproved, of course he did, but Louis said that this was between him and his sister and he couldn't stop him from buying his sister gifts. Ultimately he decides to go back to the hospital cafeteria before he gets lost.

***

"Where's Louis?" Dan asked, walking out of the ER.

"We had a fight. Why aren't you with mum?"

"She was feeling uneasy. Needed to see Louis immediately."

"It must be because of us. She always did have a sixth sense for when we were fighting. Tell her he fell asleep. I'll get him in as soon as possible." Dan nods and goes back in.

Lottie frowns and calls him, finding it switched off. "Fuck." She gets up and leaves hoping and praying she doesn't miss the birth of her siblings. Not knowing where to look, she calls Liam. "Liam did you speak to Louis?"

"Not since earlier, is he around? I need to tell him something."

"No. He's gone off. Is everything okay? You sound like something's bothering you."

"I- I'm fine, Lots, just if you find Louis ask him to call me, yeah?"

"I will. If I find him. If he calls you just tell him to get his arse back because mum needs him right now."

"No problem. Bye, love. Take care." Feeling helpless Lottie walks around a few blocks jumping when her phone rings.

"Lottie where the fuck are you?" Louis' angry voice growls through the phone and she nearly curls in on herself and then as if suddenly remembering it wasn't her who disappeared, she straightens up.

"I could ask you the same thing asshole."

"I'm outside mum's room. Get your arse in here before I kill you."

"Fine you bossy bitch. Call Liam, he wanted to speak with you."

"Alright, get here, quick." Before Lottie can get another word out, Louis hangs up.

With a huff she makes her way to the room again.

"Liam? You asked Lots to tell me to call you?"

"Yeah, no, it's uh it's okay, I took care of it." Liam murmurs making Louis suspicious.

"Okay?" Louis drags out the syllables. "Where are you? Did you check up on Harry?"

"I'm actually at your place right now."

"Oh great. Can I talk to him?"

"Yeah sure hold on a sec." He hears Liam walking on the hardwood floor and then hears a door open. He hears Liam talk but can't make out what's being said. An answering low murmur barely makes it to the phone.

"Sorry Lou, he's uh he's sleeping."

"Oh yeah? Then who were you talking to?"

"That was Zayn. He and Harry were chatting before he fell asleep."

"Alright, you sure everything is okay?"

"Yeah a few records had gone missing again, that's what I came over for. They're on your flash drive."

"Oh okay then Li. I'll see you later."

"Bye Lou." With this the two men hang up.

***

"Lou." Jay cries.

"Shhh it's okay mum, it's okay." He takes her hand. "Come on, you can get through this."

"Why did I think this was a good idea?"

"You wanted another son."

"Shut up. Take your sass away." Louis laughs lovingly.

"I love you ma, you're so brave for doing this multiple times."

"I'm never doing this again, fuck this shit hurts." She yells.

"Jay!!" Dan admonishes through a laugh.

"What? This one's got a mouth on him anyway, not like me swearing will change-" she cuts herself off in favor of screaming and letting out some of the choicest swear words.

"I can see the head." The doctor says.

"Well that's just fucking dandy." She snorts before letting out another yell.

"I think it's best you don't see this Louis." Dan says in an undertone.

"I've seen her do this 3 times. I don't think a fourth time will make much of a difference."

"The shoulders are coming through. Keep pushing, Jay." Her grip on both their hands is vice like and Dan is constantly talking to her in a calm voice stroking her hair. Her face is completely red and her makeup runny but Louis still thinks she's the most beautiful woman.

"Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Deakin, it's a healthy baby girl. Mr Deakin would you like to cut the umbilical cord?" Dan nods enthusiastically and let's go of Jay to go to the doctor holding the baby.

"Well done ma. One more to go." Louis kisses her forehead.

"I can't do it."

"You can ma, come on. I've been waiting for this forever."

"Ready, Mrs Deakin?" She nods and begins pushing again. "She's crowning already."

Finally after another 15 minutes of pushing and screaming the baby is finally out.

"Mr Deakin?" The nurse holds out the scissors again.

"Lou? Go ahead. He gives him a gentle push towards the baby. Louis smiles wide nearly overcome with happiness and gently snips off the umbilical cord.

The nurse carries off both babies to clean off and when Louis turns around, Jay has passed out. After giving her a minute, the doctor rouses her. "Okay Jay?"

"Yeah, where are they?"

"The nurses are bringing them, congratulations. You did well."

She nods. "Lou, call the girls? Dan will you call and let the twins know?"

Both of them nod and Louis walks out. Fizzy awake and pacing nervously. "Where did they take them?"

"Just to clean up, love, don't worry, mum wants you inside." He hugs her warmly and Lottie looks down. "You too Charlotte."

Lottie winces but follows them inside. Louis never _ever_ uses her full name.

When the babies were finally brought back Louis quietly backs away and watches his family. "Lou? Won't you hold your brother?" Louis nods and takes him into his arm.

"Hi Ernie." He whispers softly. "Hi." He gently caresses his hand which immediately grips his finger tightly. "That's right love, I'm your brother." Louis kisses his forehead. He rocks him lovingly and Ernest looks up at him with interest in his eyes.

***

_"Hi this is Harry and I'm probably too busy to take your call so leave a message after the beep and I'll call you back-" "unless he's ignoring you, bye."_

Louis lets out a laugh hearing his obnoxious 20 year old self. "You really need to change that, H. Anyway, it's been a while, give me a call back when you can yeah? I'm a little worried. I'll be back in 3 days."

"You're going back in three days?" Lottie asks from behind.

"'fraid so, love."

"But you've only been here-"

"2 and a half weeks, Liam can't handle work single handedly. I fly out day after."

"And the babies?"

"What about them?"

"Won't you miss them?"

"Yeah but I'll still call every week. Won't let them forget me."

"I'll miss you Lou."

"I know Lots, I'll miss you too."


	11. XI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If y'all wanna find me somewhere else:
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"So you're finally coming back yeah?" Liam asks with a nervous chuckle.

"For God's sake Liam, for the tenth time, yes I am!" Louis grumbles aghast.

"Can't you stay for a few more days?"

"Liam why the fuck are you being so shady? The day I went you kept insisting I come back as soon as possible. Did you mess up the accounts or something?"

"Yeah about that, we didn't, er, really tally the accounts." Liam laughs nervously.

" _What?"_ Louis whisper- yells. "You didn't tally them? You had one job while I was gone Liam, one job!!"

"I know, I know, it's just that I've been otherwise-"

"Oh shut it, Liam. I don't care. Start tallying them now, please. My flight is boarding, I'll talk to you when I land." Louis hangs up without another word, picking up his passport and boarding pass and moving to the boarding counter.

"May I see your boarding pass, sir?" Louis hands it to the man. "Thank you." Louis proceeds and is asked for his boarding pass again at the gateway.

He hands it over. "Can I ask you something?" He questions the stewardess.

"Sure sir."

"Why am I asked for my pass at the boarding counter and then again at the gate? It's not really like during that short walk of one minute I've changed or someone magically birthed out of me or my carry-on?"

"I don't know sir, it's protocol." She answers bashfully.

"That's quite alright. I've been asking this every time I fly for work but I've never got the answer. Thank you."

"No problem, sir. Have a good flight." Louis smiles at her and takes his seat in the business class. He wonders if Harry will like the shirt he got for the baby. His last thought before he falls asleep is of Harry and his baby. Or in his mind and dreams, _their_ baby.

***

"H!! I got you something, you're going to love it." Louis calls out entering the house. He knows Harry's home today.

Quickly going to his room, he opens his suitcase and pulls out the shirt. "Harry? Where are you love?" He calls out walking to Harry's room. Knocking on the door, he quietly enters and finds Harry sleeping. "H?" He shakes him awake.

"Lou?" His voice cracks.

"Hi, why aren't you in our room?" Harry doesn't say anything. "I got you this." He holds out the bag to him. Harry smiles weakly and takes it pulling out the shirt. He takes one look at the text and his eyes well up.

"Well? Do you like it?" He doesn't say anything. "H? Do you like it?" He asks softer this time. A tiny tear falls out of Harry's eye.

"Lou." He repeats.

"H, say something." Louis murmurs nervously. Harry shakes his head, more tears coming out. "Harry..."

"She's gone." His voice breaks.

"What? Who's gone? Where?" Louis asks confused.

Harry lets out a broken sob. "My princess is gone. I miscarried Louis. She's gone." He sobs.

"What? No, you're joking."

"She's gone, she left Louis, she left." Harry cries desperately clutching the shirt. "I didn't get to feel her kick, hear her cry, or laugh, she's gone."

"Harry-"

"She's gone, she's gone, she's gone."

"Harry.."

"Why did she leave me? How could she just leave?" Harry sobs. Louis' eyes well up. He pulls Harry into his arms and let's him cry, a few tears escaping his own eyes. "You weren't there. You promised you'd always be there. I called you but you didn't even listen to me Louis, you lied."

"I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry, I wish I could've done something, I should've listened I'm so sorry."

"All my fault, I didn't take good care of her, I deserved it."

"Harry that's not true, you know that's not true." Louis holds him tighter. Harry says nothing in response, just desperately sobs into Louis' chest.

"I want her back, Lou, I want my baby girl back. She didn't deserve to die. She didn't deserve this." Louis silently cries into Harry's hair.

"I know, I want her back too. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you baby." Harry shakes his head and clutches Louis' shirt in his hands. Louis rubs his back lovingly, holding him close, both of them crying.

"I'll never be able to hear her. I'll - Louis.."

"You don't deserve this. I- I don't even know what to say, H. I can't believe this. Why didn't you say anything afterwards?"

"I- I didn't want to disturb you."

"H! She was my daughter!!! I loved her like I would love my daughter."

"I- I know. But I just-"

"I get it, Haz, you don't need to explain. It's okay. I'm so sorry I wasn't there, I'm here now yeah, I've got you, does anyone know?" He sits with his legs open on the bed with his feet planted on the mattress and gently pulls Harry into the V of his legs. Harry curls in on himself and tucks his head in Louis' neck.

"Liam and Zayn. Niall's gone home to visit his family."

"Okay. I- have you been taking care of yourself, love?" Louis asks tentatively.

"I think?"

"When did you last eat?"

"I don't know."

"Harry we're-"

"Please Louis I'm not hungry."

"Okay, I, well, Harry you, you need to rest yeah? I'm going to get you some water and then we're going to take a nap. Can you walk?"

"Probably."

"Then I want to you to go to my room. Can you do that for me, please?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then, up you go." Louis gently pulls away from him and let's him get up. What he sees then nearly unhinges him. Harry's clothes are hanging off him like a hanger and his face is not just tired, it's sunken. Choosing not to say anything, Louis takes a deep breath and goes to the kitchen to fill a bottle of water and calls Liam up quickly.

"What the fuck Liam!!!"

"I take it you found out?"

"Yeah I fucking found out. A little warning would've been nice. He looks like death!! And you know what I got him. Baby clothes!!! Baby fucking clothes Liam. Why didn't you tell me. I was talking to you every single day!"

"I couldn't just tell you when Harry begged me not to. The second Harry found out the first thing he said was don't tell Louis. What the fuck war I supposed to do. I tried to reason with him but he knew that if you found out you'd be on the first flight back and Jay needed you."

"Mom didn't need me, you ass! Mom had Dan. Who did Harry have? You couldn't even make sure he ate? He looks like he's going to die!!"

"I'm sorry Lou, I really couldn't have told you, he would've been so hurt."

"Whatever Liam, you brought this onto yourself, don't expect to see me in the office before a week." He hangs up. Quickly he heads back to his room to find Harry sitting up folded in on himself, rocking back and forth.

"Haz?" He doesn't respond. Louis moves closer. "Harry?" No response. Louis gently touches his shoulder and he flails out.

"Harry!!!" His body is convulsing and shaking. "Harry what's happening?" His eyes roll back into his head and his body is nearly jerking off the bed. "I- shit- you're- you're seizing. I- what do I do?" Louis tries to hold him down and call 999. He manages to hold down his head even though his body is still convulsing and he's foaming at the mouth.

"I need an ambulance at Primrose Hill, House 9. ASAP. My friend is having a seizure."

"Is he epileptic, sir?"

"No he's not epileptic. Send the damn ambulance before he has a hemorrhage." Louis snaps.

"Yes sir, the nurse will be there with a dose of diazepam in 10 minutes."

" _Lady,_ he's having a fucking seizure, I want the nurse here in three minutes. I'm from the Tomlinson Trust and if that nurse isn't here in 3, your boss won't be pleased."

"Yes sir, sorry, she'll be there right away." Louis hangs up and tries to hold Harry.

"H, come on, love, you're gonna be fine, just a few more minutes okay?" Louis holds his head carefully supporting his neck, desperation clear in his voice. A knock on the door startles him out of his panic. "Fuck the door is locked." He breathes quickly and rushes out opening the door. "Quick, he's inside." He gestures to the nurse with the syringe. She rushes in and quickly injects Harry causing his body to slowly still.

"Thank you so much. And uh, I'm sorry for my rudeness over the phone. Could you possibly tell me what could've caused the seizure?"

"We'll have to take him in for a hormonal check up for that. Is that okay?"

"Yes, that's fine."

"Will you be riding in the ambulance?"

"I'll follow in my car, we'll need a ride home."

"Alright then, I'll just call for a stretcher." With that she walks out.

Louis takes a deep breath, leaning down to kiss his forehead, whispering against the warm skin. "You're gonna be okay, yeah?"

***

"Mr Tomlinson, does Mr Styles have any health problems?" The doctor finally turns to Louis.

"No, he had a miscarriage recently but otherwise no."

"His body supports birth? Was he eating well while he was pregnant?"

"Yes I made sure of that." He answers proudly.

"Well has he been eating well since there miscarriage?"

"I'm... not very sure. I don't think so.

"Don't you live together?"

"We do. But I was in the States. I just came back today."

"Hmm, and who was taking care of Mr Styles while you were away?"

"A friend of mine."

"Can you call him here? I have a few questions for him."

"Yeah okay." Louis steps out. "Liam, i need you to get to the hospital. Now."

"Is everything okay? What hospital?"

"I'll text you the address. Harry had a seizure."

"I'll be there." Louis thanks him and hangs up, texting him the address. He goes back in. "He'll be here soon. When's Harry going to wake up?"

"I could wake him up right now. But the sedative should wear off in about 2 hours."

"If this were to happen again, what can I do?"

"Just pick up some diazepam and Prozac tablets from our chemist here." The doctor writes him a prescription.

"Alright, I'll go get those right now, thank you doctor. I'll let you know when my friend gets here."

"Sure. Send a nurse for me." Louis nods and goes to the chemist.

When Harry finally comes to, Louis is nearly asleep. "Water." Harry croaks and Louis jolts from his trance and grabs the glass of water from Harry's bedside table, helping Harry sit up with his free hand.

"There you go, love." Harry sips slowly, Louis trying not to tip the glass too much.

"Where are we?" Harry asks, his weak hand enclosing around Louis' wrist.

"We're at the hospital, Haz. You had a seizure."

"Can we get an ultrasound?" He blurts.

"H there's nothing to-" Louis begins softly.

"Please," he whimpers.

"But Harry-"

"Please, please, please." His voice cracks on the last please, and he breaks down into tears.

"No, no, no, Hazza, no tears please." Louis pleads softly, pulling him into his side. Harry goes easily and hides his face in the crook of Louis' neck.

"Why did this happen with me?" He mumbles.

"H, I, there's not much I can say. It was an accident, it could happen to anyone."

"I wanna go home, please take me home."

"You need to eat something first, darling."

"I'm not hungry."

"Haz you haven't eaten in a week. You know what the doctor said?"

"What?"

"That the two reasons you seized was because of lack of blood sugar and stress. Do you know how scared I was?"

"I'm sorry." He murmurs, nuzzling into his neck.

"That's okay, love. Just tell me what you're going to eat, yeah?" Louis gently rubs his back.

"Anything I guess, a salad's good."

"Are you sure love? You need something substantial."

"I'm really not hungry, and I'm not sure my body will digest something substantial right now."

"Alright, if you insist, I'll be back in a minute yeah? I'll send in Liam till then. He fell asleep outside."

"Okay. Please come back soon."

Louis squeezes his hand reassuringly and walks out. While waiting in line at the cafeteria, he evaluates everything that happened today, from finding out that he practically lost a child to Harry's seizure. He sighs, knowing that he needs to talk to Harry about everything that's going on.

Taking the salad he starts walking back to the ward when he sees Mychal and nearly trips over thin air. His jaw nearly drops to the floor and he contemplates for a moment, thinking of going over and talking to him, but deciding better of it, he continues walking.

"Tomlinson?" And of course, of course he saw him. Louis turns around and pretends to be surprised.

"Ross... What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same."

"I'm here for a friend." He replies shortly.

"I'm here for my kid. My girlfriend's giving birth."

"And you're down here doing what?"

"Taking a break from her screams. How's my other kid. Can't wait to get him away from that whore."

" _What?_ " Louis snaps.

"What? You thought I'd just leave my kid to him?"

"Your kid? _She_ stopped being your kid the day you told him you didn't want her. And watch who you're calling a whore. He wasn't the one who cheated, you arse."

"Shame I'm going to get custody of him anyway." He shrugs smugly.

"You won't." His voice falters. " _She's_ safe, far away, where you can't reach her."

"Yeah yeah whatever, it's just a matter of a few months." He rolls his eyes.

"I wish, I wish it was a matter of months," he murmurs softly. "She's gone, Harry- he miscarried." Then he straightens up. "Not that it's any of your business." He snaps sharply and turns on his heel, walking away quickly. The doctor exits Harry's ward just as Louis rounds the corner.

"There you are, you were gone for quite some time." Liam smiles.

"Yeah, there was a long line and I ran into some- yeah there was a long line." He finishes lamely, placing the bowl in front of Harry.

"Who'd you run into?" Harry asks.

"What did the doctor say?" Louis pretends he didn't hear him which, yeah fair enough, his voice was pretty much gone.

"Who'd you-"

"Liam... _what_ _did the doctor say?_ " Louis asks pointedly.

"Um, he said that as long as Harry's vitals remain stable overnight we should be able to take him home tomorrow afternoon." Liam raises his eyebrows.

"That's great then."

"He also asked if you went and got the medication he prescribed?"

"Yeah, yeah I did. I put it in the car." Louis turns to Harry. "Haz why aren't you eating?"

"I'm not hungry." He pokes at the salad with his fork.

"Harry. We've been over this."

"I know. I need to eat unless I want another seizure which could cause brain damage or internal bleeding, I know."

"Then will you please eat up?" Harry groans and slowly starts eating, making Louis murmur a quick thanks before turning back to Liam. While Harry eats, Liam briefs Louis on whatever he missed while he was gone and Louis finally let's his excitement for his siblings show, showing Liam all the pictures he took and the videos he made.

"Lou?" Harry speaks up softly after a while looking conflicted.

"Yeah? Are you okay?" Louis turns to face him, shooting Liam a quiet look.

"I'm- uh- going to get us something to eat and maybe call Zayn, yeah?" With that Liam slips out leaving the pair alone to talk. Louis drags his chair close to Harry's bed and asks him what's wrong making Harry frown. He gently encloses Harry's right hand in both of his and looks at him expectantly.

"Something is weird."

"Huh? What do you mean, love?"

"Something strange is happening. Something that shouldn't be happening."

"How could you possibly know that, Haz?" Louis tucks a loose strand of hair behind his ear.

"I don't know. Who did you run into?"

"I- Liam's been gone a while, lemme just check on him." Louis gets up but Harry is quick to grab his wrist.

"Who was it?" Louis sighs and sits beside him, clearly in no mood to answer. Harry raises his eyebrows.

"Fine. It was Mychal, are you happy now?"

"What's- what's he doing here?"

"You know the lady you said he got pregnant. Well apparently she's giving birth and he was and I quote, taking a break from the screams. You dodged that bullet."

"Are you saying it's good that I miscarried?" Harry asks, voice rising frantically in pitch.

"No!! No you absolute idiot. I'm saying it's a good thing you broke up. I'd never say that, H."

"I know, I'm sorry. I do feel bad for her. I hope he treats their child well." Silence befalls as both of them wonder if that will ever happen and deep down, no matter how much they try to deny it, both of them know that the child is going to have a tough life. "You know, maybe the child will be okay after all, maybe he actually loves her and wants this child."

"Harry," Louis murmurs softly, taking his hands again. "You know that's not true. He- he said he was taking a break from the screams. Doesn't sound like someone in love."

"Can you just let me believe it? He was so nice to me, I don't get it, why would he ever, ever cheat? With someone he doesn't even love?"

"Haz, you can't find excuses for cheaters. Cheating is not and will never be a mistake. You can't accidentally fuck someone. And it is never ever the cheatee's fault. Even if you were a boring old fart, which you're not, It's not your fault if you're cheated on."

"I- can we not talk about this, I just, I don't wanna think about it."

"Of course, sweetie, I'll just check on Liam okay?" Harry nods and Louis gets up, kissing the top of his head.

***

Louis leaves Harry to his thoughts and talks to Liam outside and finds out that Zayn would be there soon. Liam then tentatively asks him if he could go to work with him for a few hours since a lot of cheques needed to be sanctioned and required his signature. Louis mulls it over and tells Liam he needs to first let Harry know. Harry on the other side of the door is lost in thought, mourning the loss of his child.

Louis knocks on the door and Harry asks him to enter. Immediately Louis senses that something is off.

"Haz, are you okay?" He takes the seat beside him, reaching for his hand, enclosing the cold hand in his warm, small palms. "Your hands are frozen, love."

"I- I was just thinking."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Harry tentatively declines. "You're okay, love, right?"

"I think so."

"H, I actually came in to ask you something." He hesitates. "There's some cheques that need to be signed and some people I need to talk to, will you be okay if I go into work for a few hours or do you want me to stay?" Harry considers it for a bit and a few tears fall out. "Hey!! Haz!! What's wrong babe?" Louis cups his face. Harry shakes his head.

"I'm scared." He mumbles shakily.

"Scared? Of what, love?"

"Everything, please stay, I'm sorry, please don't go." He whispers holding Louis' hands to his face.

"Babe, Zayn will be here soon. You'll be okay."

"Please, don't want Zayn, please stay." Harry pleads, words tumbling out in a rush.

"Alright, love, please calm down, take deep breaths for me, breathe H, I'm not going okay? But you need to let go of my hands so I can at least tell Liam that I can't go with him."

"You won't go?" Louis nods. Harry slowly releases his hands. Louis gets up and tells him he'll be right back.

"Sorry Liam, Harry's not in a state to be left alone." Liam argues that Zayn would be there soon. "I know, I told him, but he says he wants me there. Do me a favor lad, get those cheques here? Or ask Zayn to get them. I can't leave him alone in this state. Either someone gets the cheques or they'll have to wait." Liam groans but nods already pulling out his phone and Louis goes back in.

"Lou?" Harry calls out softly.

"Yeah? Everything okay?"

"Could you please cuddle me?" He looks at him, nervousness clear in his eyes

"Haz, I- I don't think I'm allowed to get in the bed."

"Please? It'll be okay. I'm not hooked on any machines." After pulling out the pouty lips and puppy dog eyes, Louis finally agrees.

"It still works. I hate you, Styles." He groans, getting into the small bed, plastered to his side.

"Hold me, Tomlinson. And please you could never hate me." Harry laughs weakly.

"Yeah, that's kinda true." Louis murmurs, wrapping his arms around him. "Rest, Haz, you've had one hell of a week." Harry nods, nuzzling into Louis' neck and falling asleep almost immediately, exhaustion and stress winning out over his desire to talk to Louis.

 


	12. XII

"Haz, you okay in there? You've been “weeing” for about an hour there." Louis does air quotes.

"I'm fine, just let me be for a bit."

"Alright, I'm just gonna wait it out here okay?" Louis slowly slides down the wall, and sits on the floor.

"Lou I'm fine you can go to work." Harry groans on the other side, his voice thick.

"But I like spending time with you. If you come out now, I promise I'll start going in to work starting Monday." Louis pretends to not notice.

The water starts running and Louis smiles to himself. Within two minutes Harry comes out and glares at Louis on the floor. He makes a cute face and lies down on the floor dramatically. "Don't glare at me, you'd been gone an hour."

"I have a delicate stomach okay? The salad at the hospital didn't agree with me."

"H, you can't use that excuse every time you disappear. At least not a week after you've come back. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have put on Baby's Day Out I don't know what was I thinking."

"It's alright, Lou, I'm the one who needs to stop being a baby about this whole situation." Harry looks at the ceiling, blinking back tears

"You need a hug?" Louis sits up, legs crisscrossed, tugging on Harry's sweats. Harry nods. "Come here then." He raises his arms, holding them open for him. Harry drops to his knees and crawls over to Louis who promptly pulls his still weak body into his lap, the backs over his knees over Louis' left thigh, feet on the floor beside. Louis wraps his right arm around his shoulder, pulling him in so he can nuzzle his head into his neck, which he immediately does, wrapping his arms around his waist. Louis squeezes him murmuring comforting words in his ear.

Louis feels tears seeping through his shirt and Harry's body shaking but instead of saying anything he wraps himself tighter around him and slowly rocks him. Even when his soft shaky tears turn into full blown sobs Louis quietly holds him, not making any attempt to stop the tears. And that's how Harry falls asleep. In Louis' arms, hidden away in the warm crook of his neck, left arm around his waist and the right one over his shoulder.

***

When Louis wakes up, he feels completely numb and disoriented. His legs have fallen asleep with Harry's dead weight on them. He nudges Harry with his shoulder. "You need to wake up, H."

Harry groans and curls into Louis' lap. "Five more minutes."

"Babe my legs are killing me, please." Harry groans again and slowly unwraps himself from Louis.

"Sorry." He mumbles, sliding onto the floor gracelessly.

"That's okay." Louis rubs his legs trying to get some feeling in them. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about, though."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why don't you freshen up and we'll talk yeah? I'm going to wash up as well and if you're out before me, just put the kettle on." Harry agrees and Louis hauls himself up with the help of the doorknob. Harry goes back into the bathroom and Louis leaves for his room and turns on the shower setting it at just perfectly scalding.

He hums to himself while washing up, thinking how to approach Harry about the topic at hand and making a to do list for after. Once he has a few things to do, he shuts off the tap and cautiously steps out. He towels off his body and with his towel around his shoulders, drying his hair with the slightly damp towel, he steps into his room naked. He sprawls on the bed, too lazy to get dressed. Finally after a few minutes he pulls on a pair of boxers and sweats and heads back to the living room, towel still slung over his bare shoulders.

He puts the kettle on and continues drying his hair pulling out both their mugs.

No, it doesn't escape him how domestic the whole setting is, he's just putting his mind on hold for a bit, he has more pressing matters to deal with, after all. Harry comes out of his room dressed similarly, only difference being the purple towel wrapped around his hair instead of the cream colored one over Louis' shoulders.

"Hi love. Good shower?"

"Yeah, feels so much better. You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah- I- uh, let's sit down yeah?" -Louis adds the boiled water to the cups and drops a teabag in each cup, handing one to Harry. He looks confused but obediently takes a seat on the couch in the living room.

"Is everything okay, Lou?" He asks nervously.

"Harry- I- I know it's not my place to tell you this but I think you need to tell Anne."

"I- what?"

"About your miscarriage, Anne needs to know. She's your mother Harry, she lost a grandchild too."

"I- um- you're right, I'll tell her soon."

"You should tell her now."

"I can't." Harry turns away.

"H, look at me." Louis orders softly. "You can, alright? You're going to be okay, I'm there with you." Harry shakes his head. "Please, love, trust me, she'll be so hurt when she finds out."

"Will you dial her?" Harry requests tentatively. Louis immediately pulls out his phone and does so, passing it to Harry.

"Louis, how have you been love??" Anne asks Harry joyfully.

"It's Harry, mum, I'm using Louis' phone." He murmurs grimly. Louis sets his mug aside and wraps his arms around him pulling him into a hug. Harry pats Louis' thigh to let him know he appreciates it.

"Oh, Harry, how've you been, baby? I haven't heard from you in a few weeks. How's my grandchild?"

"Ma I- I was actually calling about her."

"Is that so? How is she, I bet she's-"

"Dead." Harry blurts suddenly. "She's gone mom. I miscarried. There's no grandchild to be excited about anymore." His voice is devoid of any emotion whatever but his hand which was casually tugging at the pillowcase earlier is now clutching it in undefinable emotions.

"She's- what? Oh my god when did this happen? Are you okay?"

"Two weeks ago. I'm fine, physically at least." His voice suddenly cracks and Louis' grip on him tightens.

"I- Harry I'm so sorry my baby, you don't deserve this." Harry can hear tears in her voice.

"No mum, I'm sorry. I know how excited you were, I should've been more careful, please don't cry." He pleads furiously blinking back his own tears.

"Harry Edward, it wasn't your fault and you better know that full well. You promise me you'll take good care of yourself, grandchildren can wait, I'm more bothered about the health of my baby." Anne says forcefully, wiping her tears.

"So you're not mad at me?" He asks tentatively.

"Of course not sweetie, I'm so sorry, I can only imagine how horrible you're feeling, just, think about it this way yeah, she would always serve as a reminder of your biggest mistake and I know I shouldn't say that but it's true. Now you can have a child with whoever you deem worthy, whenever you see fit."

"I miss her." Harry sniffles.

"I know you do, baby, she was your daughter," she pauses, "is Louis around? I want to speak with him."

"Yeah he's right here, just a sec."

"Wait!!! Take care of yourself, H. I love you." Tears start flowing freely from Harry's eyes.

"I love you too mummy." He whispers before handing the phone to Louis and hiding his face in the couch. Louis gently rubs Harry's stomach with his thumb trying to soothe him while taking to Anne.

Harry curls up against him, changing his angle so that his back rests against his propped up leg and his face towards the back of the couch, head nuzzling Louis' collarbone. Louis effortlessly changes the hand holding the phone and wraps his arm around Harry, letting him know he's there. After he's completely reassured Anne that her son is in good hands and he'll do his best to make him happy he hangs up and calls Liam and asks him to send him any work he can do from home and promises to see him on Monday.

"Could you please tell Jay about her?" Harry asks tentatively. "I feel like she'd want to know."

"Of course, love, I'll let her know when I speak to her next, okay?" Louis gently strokes his hair.

"Thank you."

Louis hums in acknowledgement. "Haz did you quit the bakery?" He asks suddenly.

"No, Liam spoke to Barbara. She told me to take as long as I needed."

"You should get back to work to, from Monday. I just think that sooner you get back to your daily routine, the better it is for your physical and mental health."

"Okay." Silence befalls them again. Louis gently stroking Harry's hair and Harry rubbing circles on his left bicep. "I wanna get a haircut."

"What?"

"I wanna get my hair cut short." Harry says firmly.

"Why?" Louis stroking is suddenly more of a possessive grip than anything else.

"I don't know, I just do."

"Are you sure you don't wanna think about it for like... Maybe a few years?" Louis asks tentatively.

"They're just hair, Lou, they'll grow back." Harry laughs at the overreaction.

"Yeah but I like them long." Louis argues.

"So do I but I feel like I need a change."

"Alright, if that's what you really want." Harry hums in the affirmative. "We'll go tomorrow, my haircut is due as well." Louis runs his hand through his hair, fringe slightly longer than he likes and hair going too far down his neck for him to be entirely comfortable.

***

"Louis, you done working yet?" Harry calls.

"No, did you need something?"

"I- uh-" he appears in the doorway, looking horribly flustered.

"Everything okay, Haz?" Louis raises an eyebrow, barely sparing him a glance before turning back to his laptop.

"Well I may have had a drink," he answers sheepishly then quietly mumbles, "or four."

"Okay?" Louis is still focused on the screen.

"And uh- just give me a yell if you're done working and uh- yeah."

"Okay." Louis murmurs.

"Won't you ask me where I'm going?" Harry asks coyly, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"I'm a little busy right now, love."

" _Louiiiiiiis._ " He whines.

Louis sighs and looks up from his laptop. Harry's wearing a long sheer black shirt with only the bottom three buttons done and tiny black briefs. Louis clears his throat. "When-when did you change?" Harry smiles slyly.

"Do you like it, Lou?" He asks finally entering the room.

"You going somewhere?" Louis asks ignoring his question.

"Nah just wanted to look pretty, do you think I look pretty?"

"Very pretty, love." He smiles, turning back to the screen. Harry let's out another whine. "What is it?" Louis asks looking up from his screen.

"Pay attention to me." Harry orders.

"Haz, I really don't have time, work is just piling on, I _have_ to finish this." Louis answers earnestly already back to his screen. He knows Harry's a clingy drunk but he _really_ doesn't have the time for it right now. Harry grumbles and leaves the room. Louis sighs debating between continuing work and going over to him. Finally he calls Liam and requests him and Zayn to come over.

When the doorbell rings he hears Harry tripping and falling to get the door, giggling all the way. He hears pleasantries being exchanged and knows Liam's gonna take care of Harry and Zayn's probably making his way over to him right now.

"Hey Lou." There, he was right.

"Zayn, hi, how're you mate? S'been a while."

"M'good, Harry's _drunk_." Zayn says gleefully.

"I know." Louis laughs. "No need to be so happy."

"No he's like hammered." Zayn snorts.

"He's not that bad."

"He asked me my hourly rate."

"Oh my god." He starts cackling.

"So you pay attention to him but try to distract me with Liam?" Harry appears in the doorway, his tone accusing, his words slurring together.

"I see that didn't work out too well." Louis glares at Liam.

"Hey don't blame me. He may be drunk but he's still freakishly strong." Liam raises his hands in defeat. Louis sighs.

"You're fucking useless. Now not only do I have to play host, but I've to deal with this idiot. Do some fucking work." He gestures to the laptop and Liam takes his place as Louis gets out of bed and wraps an arm around Harry who's talking to the painting Louis bought at a charity auction.

"Oh! You're finally here." Harry giggles delightedly and Louis' heart flutters a bit. You can't exactly blame him.

"Yeah love, m'here. Let's get you to bed." Harry goes easily. He tucks him in his bed for the night, after forcing a glass of water down his throat to sober him down a bit. "Goodnight, Haz." He murmurs, smoothing back his hair.

"Night Lou." He smiles leaning into the touch. Louis strokes his hair for a bit and then leaves.

"You really know how to put him down." Liam smiles.

"Yeah, he's just like a child," Louis smiles. "Dinner? And by dinner I mean takeout, or ramen."

"Sure, I can do with ramen." Zayn shrugs and Liam agrees.

"Then go make yourself some, and make me some as well." Louis grabs a beer from the fridge and pops the can, plopping on the couch.

"Terrible host." Liam reprimands, already going to the kitchen.

"Oh shut up." He switches on the telly just for background noise. Zayn comes and sits next to him. Louis looks over his shoulder for Liam and finding him still safely in the kitchen he turns back to Zayn. "Have you told him yet?"

"Told whom what?" Zayn rolls his eyes.

"Told Liam that you're crazy about him!!!"

"It's not time yet. He's- he's still not over Sophia."

"Oh look at him, he's done with her." Louis snorts pointing to Liam who's twerking in the kitchen.

Zayn looks behind and laughs. "He's always been a bit of a goof." He has a fond smile on his face.

"Your fucking heart eyes are making me gag." Louis scoffs. "Come on ask him out already."

"I don't think I'm very ready."

"Oh come on Zee, grow a pair." At that moment Louis comes out with three steaming bowls.

After an hour or so, Zayn and Liam decide to go home, Liam practically carrying a sleepy Zayn. Although Louis knows he should sleep, he has to get back to work but he decides to go out on the balcony to get some fresh air. He finds Harry sitting on the floor in just boxers and immediately let's out an indignant noise making Harry jump.

He turns around. "Oh it's just you." He smiles softly. Louis smiles back, fetching a blanket and sitting beside Harry, wrapping up the blanket over both of their shoulders.

"What are you doing out here?" Louis asks softly, wrapping an arm around him, pulling him close.

"Just needed to be by myself for a bit." He murmurs resting his head on his shoulder.

"Hmm, you want me to leave?"

"No stay. Please. Like having you around." That makes him smile again. They sit in silence for a bit until Harry shivers against Louis.

"Cold?" Louis asks wrapping the blanket tighter around them.

"No just thinking." He murmurs sadly.

"About what, Harry?"

"My baby girl."

"Ah." Louis tightens his hold on the boy.

"You know when I was a child, my grandmother got really really sick and I loved her so much. One day I just cried and cried holding her hand, telling her, begging her to please not leave me-" his voice cracks, throat prickling due to the tears. "She smiled at me and asked me ever so softly if she could trust me with a secret." He chokes out.

Louis immediately wraps his arms around him. "Shhh, shhh, it's okay, I'm here, Haz, you're okay."' Harry shakes his head, shivering.

"She told me that the people who loved us never really left us, they were always there with us, in our hearts. And that made me cry so much more-" tears freely stream down his face now, "I told her I wanted her around me and not in my heart. So she kissed my hand and said, every time you miss me, look at the brightest star out there," he looks at the sky, "and that star, will be me, smiling at you, making sure my little Harry is okay. She told me I could talk to her that way any time. Told me it was true for all people you missed who couldn't be with you. Said she still spoke to grandad like that." A few tears fall out of Louis' eyes. "She died the next day." Harry smiles sadly.

"When I found out I lost my baby," he pushes on, "I came out here, every single night and just looked at the sky and told her every single thing I wish I'd had the chance to say personally. Every single day I came to her and let her know I loved her, stayed out multiple nights just talking to her, laughing with her and I made a promise to her, that no matter what happened I'll always find time to talk to her, every day, that I'd never forget her, that I'd always love her." Harry looks up at the sky. Louis tucks Harry in his arms and silently cries.

He takes a deep breath. "That's so beautiful Harry, thank you for sharing that with me."

"I'd like to go to bed now," he gets up and Louis nods, going back inside. Harry looks up at the sky one last time. "I love you so much my baby girl, I promise I'll love you till the day I join you up there." Wiping his tears, he follows Louis in, closing the balcony door gently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope everyone reading likes this chapter. this is a story that I was told as a child and I still do believe in it so this chapter is very special to me


	13. XIII

The night was restless for both of them. Sleeping apart after months of sleeping together taking its toll on both. Louis was debating going to Harry's room when there was a knock on his door and Harry came in.

"Oh thank god. I was just going to come to you." Louis blurts out, relieved.

Harry smiles weakly. "Yeah, may I?" He gestures to the bed.

"Please do." Louis pleads and pulls Harry close the second he gets in bed. Harry hides his face in Louis' chest and Louis holds him protectively. Louis' just about to fall asleep when he feels Harry shaking. "Harry,-"

"No, Lou please don't. I- I really don't wanna talk. Please." His voice cracks.

"It's okay, I get it, I'm here." Louis kisses his head and holds him till his sniffling cries turn to soft snores. Louis falls asleep with the boy wrapped up in his arms.

When he wakes up the next day, he finds Harry still asleep. He gets out of bed and takes a shower, feeling miserable. It's a great day, the sun is out and the birds are chirping, but he just lost a child and his best friend is so upset it's upsetting him in turn. He comes out and finds Harry sitting up in bed.

"Morning, Haz." he smiles tentatively.

"Morning Lou." Harry smiles back. "Breakfast?" He asks getting out of bed.

"Yes please. I have to go to work."

"Alright lemme just brush my teeth." Harry smiles.

"Yeah of course! I'll just lay the table till then." Louis goes out with a smile. When Harry finally comes out after his shower he gives Louis a small smile. Louis tells him that Niall's back in town and that all five of them are going out tonight.

"Lou I'm really not feeling up to it." Harry says, pulling out a pan, a mixing bowl and some eggs. "Can you pass me whatever veggies you want in your omelette?"

Louis opens the fridge and pulls out a capsicum, a tomato and an onion, washing them and getting out the chopping board. "Harry come on. You need to move on. I know it won't be easy but you gotta start somewhere." He starts finely chopping the vegetables, passing them to Harry once he's done.

"Lou-" he begins to argue adding the vegetables to the eggs and whisking.

"No Harry. I'd respect you but no, you're coming and that's final. We're getting you drunk off your ass." Louis fills two glasses of water and places them on table.

"I really don't want to."

"I know but it's been two months!! You have to start somewhere babe."

"Fine." Harry agrees and Louis thanks him.

Later that day, they're all out at the bar with drinks in their hands, loud aimless chatter flowing easily. Louis has finally let go after a very stressful few months and he's on his way to being completely smashed. He's had 4 beers and, well, a fair few shots. Liam is mostly sober and a little quiet, working on his second bear. Zayn is talking to Niall about home, drinking a whiskey on the rocks. Niall is well on his way to smashed sticking absolutely to all kinds of tequila. And Harry? Nobody really knows where he is. He disappeared about an hour ago claiming he was going to dance.

"There he is!!" Louis laughs raucously pointing to the dance floor. "My Harry!!" He slurs.

"Oii Lou, tone it down a little, yeah. Let the boy unwind." Liam murmurs, seeing Harry make his way through the crowd.

"Lou- eeeeee." Harry laughs. "Come dance with me."

"Oh no no no. That's a bad idea." Louis laughs. Clearly he's had less to drink than Harry.

"If you're saying no you aren't drunk enough. Come on, it's just one dance?" He tugs on his wrist.

"Oh come on Haz. Don't be childish." Louis groans.

"It's okay man. Go dance with him." Zayn shoves him. Louis bites his lip hesitantly.

"Oh what the hell. C'mon Styles show me what you got." Harry whoops and drags Louis into the crowd. Louis places his hands on Harry's hips as he presses his back against his front.

"Thanks for today." Harry slurs.

"What about today?" Louis asks.

"I needed it. So much." He turns around and wraps his arms around his neck.

Louis nods with a sincere smile. "I know. That's why I insisted on it." He speaks right into his ear, arms encircling his waist.

"Louis I don't- I want- I can't I-" Louis smiles at him, rubbing circles over the dip in his spine to calm him down.

"It's okay love, you can talk to me. Tell me what is it that you need."

"I- I'm not-" he looks around, conflicted. "I need to, I -"

"Harry's it's fine it's-" Before Louis registers what's happening, he feels Harry's lips pressed against his. He pulls away almost immediately. "Oh." Louis says stupidly. "That's, um, interesting."

Harry looks down at their shoes, shuffling his feet awkwardly. "I- was that, uh, was that okay?"

"That was very, um, okay. In fact, it was something I might wanna repeat." Harry's face lights up. He grabs Louis' face and presses their lips together firmly. Louis smiles, eagerly kissing back and pulls Harry closer, arms tightening around his waist. Harry pulls away, dragging him away from the dance floor, till his back is against the wall and Louis' arms are bracketing him in. "How drunk are you right now, Harry?" Louis asks kissing his neck.

"Drunk enough to admit I want this but not so drunk that you need to worry about taking advantage." He falls lax against him.

"That's the perfect amount." Louis kisses him again, hands sliding over his body. He pulls on his hair making him gasp. Louis takes the opportunity and slips his tongue into his mouth, sucking on his tongue. Harry whimpers softly, giving up control of the kiss almost immediately. Louis presses his leg between Harry's thighs and Harry grinds forward immediately.

"Please Lou. Need this. Need you. Want this so much." Harry pleads, pulling away from him only for Louis to start sucking at his neck.

"What do you need Harry, tell me love, what do you need?" Louis breathes into his ear.

"You, please. Please let's take this home, please." Harry begs practically humping Louis' leg by now.

"Shh it's okay, Harry, come on, let's get out of here." Louis gives him a small kiss before dragging him out of the club. He hails a taxi and before he can do any more than sit and give their address, he has a lapful of Harry, sucking on his neck, rolling his hips, running his hands over his torso. "Harry, babe, lemme just tell the boys we've left." Louis stills the boy's hips. The boy in question hides his face in Louis' neck, sucking a love bite into the crook. Louis lets out a groan and pulls out his phone, nearly dislodging Harry from his lap. "Haz, I can't concentrate with you doing that." Louis pulls him away by his hair, making him gasp loudly.

"Love having my hair pulled Louis, feels so good." Harry murmurs.

"Just a sec, Harry." He tells him placatingly. Pulling up Liam's chat, he texts him saying he took Harry home and that he'd see him at work on Monday. After that he tucks his phone away to see Harry pouting in his lap. That causes Louis to laugh. "What is it babe?"

"I don't like your phone." He huffs, making Louis laugh again.

"You're being so cute I could literally eat you up." He kisses his nose. "Come here." Louis pulls him close kissing him, a smile on his lips. The cab driver honks loudly snapping them both out of their bubble.

"We're here." He mutters gruffly. Harry gets out of the cab and Louis hands the driver way too much cash pulling Harry inside. As soon as they're through the door Louis has Harry pinned against the wall.

"Please Lou, want you, want you so bad." Harry pleads, Louis paying no heed, busy sucking a mark on his neck. "Lou!!"

"Shhhh Harry don't be greedy." Louis chides, continuing his ministrations. "Gonna take such good care of you." Louis kisses him softly.

"Yes Louis, please."

Louis places his hands on Harry's waist. "Jump babe." Using Louis' shoulders for leverage, Harry jumps wrapping his legs around his waist. Louis' hands instinctively move to support Harry's weight. He carries the boy to their room. He gently lays him on their bed and crawls over him.

Harry smiles up at him feeling his heart beat rapidly. He interlocks his hands behind Louis' neck and pulls him closer, lips meeting his. Louis unbuttons Harry's shirt, never disconnecting their lips. Louis gently sucks on his tongue, nipping at his bottom lip. Harry tugs on his tee, whimpering. Louis pulls away to discard both his tee while Harry tugs off his sheer shirt. Louis kisses down his chest, sucking one of his nipples into his mouth licking over it. He rolls the other between his thumb and index finger making Harry moan.

"Love having my nipples played with." He mumbles, voice raspy.

"What do you want love? Say it." Louis asks before switching nipples. Harry squirms making a whiny shy sound. "Don't be shy, I've waited forever for you to say it."

Harry hesitates a little. "Want you," Louis gives him an encouraging nod. "Want you to fuck me." He blushes deeply.

"Fuck. Of course love, of course." Louis murmurs into his neck. He kisses him unbuttoning his jeans and trying his level best to pull them off making Harry laugh.

"Let me." He murmurs.

"No I've got it." Louis grits his teeth trying to pull them off. Harry grins pulling them off smoothly.

"Next time." Harry winks. Louis shuts him up with a kiss, unbuttoning his pants and pushing them to his knees along with his underwear. Harry strokes Louis' cock making him moan, sucking love bites into his neck.

"On your back, Haz. Gonna fuck you so good baby." Louis tells him, pulling lube from the bedside drawer, drizzling it over three of his fingers. Harry cries out weakly as Louis teases one of his fingers against his hole. He slowly pushes his finger in, hand stilling Harry's hips which are jerking uncontrollably. "Look so good all spread out for me." Louis murmurs kissing his hip. Harry bucks up wildly, trying to get friction from thin air.

"Please." He gasps, riding his finger. "More Lou. Need more." Louis pushes in another finger.

"It's okay babe, I've got you." Louis murmurs kissing him sweetly. He scissors his fingers, searching for his prostate. Harry moans loudly when Louis finds it.

"Please Louis please, no more, just want you, don't need any more prep." Harry begs.

"Baby-"

"No Lou, please." Louis looks conflicted for a few seconds before nodding, putting on a condom and slicking himself up. He slowly pushes into him making both of them moan. "Fuck, you feel so good."

"You're so tight." Louis whispers pressing their foreheads together. Harry chokes on his words as Louis starts thrusting, slowly building up the pace. He cries out loudly wrapping his arms around his neck, ankles locking behind his back trying to pull him deeper in.

"Close already. S' been too long." He murmurs blushing. "Gonna cum too soon Lou."

Louis soothes him with a kiss. "It's okay baby, you can cum, you're okay, I'm close too yeah?" He moans a little, his cock nudging at Harry's prostate making his back arch obscenely. Louis litters his neck with lovebites, big and small, staking his claim over him. "Such a pretty boy. My good boy. Come on baby, cum for me." Louis thrusts twice more before Harry's cumming all over himself, his hole clenching like a vice making Louis cum as well.

Louis slumps against him making the boy whine. He smiles sheepishly and pulls out, tying off the condom and throwing it away. "Lou." Harry calls softly. Louis crawls back under the sheets.

"Hi baby, how are you feeling." He kisses his forehead.

"Head hurts. M a little sore." Louis gets him a glass of water and kisses his hair.

"Sleep love, you'll feel better."

***

"What?" Liam asks incredulously. "He was in a vulnerable state Louis, how could you?"

"He wanted it alright? I- I didn't even initiate it, I just didn't try to stop it."

"What'd he say this morning?"

"I left before he woke up." Louis murmurs guiltily. "I left him a note."

"You're such an arse I can't even believe you. He's probably sitting at your place feeling like an idiot. Go home right now!!!" Liam orders and Louis just nods quietly, getting up to leave. "Don't screw it up okay?" He nods.

***

"Hi Haz." Louis murmurs, making the boy look up.

"You're back early!" He says brightly. "I was just- uh- talking to Barbara about getting my job back, again." Louis grins and takes the seat next to him.

"I- uh, I wanted to talk about last night?"

"No you don't." Harry grins knowingly.

"No I don't." Louis admits. "But I feel like we should."

"We don't need to. It was just a one night stand." Harry shrugs and oh, Louis didn't even think about this. "Right?"

"Y-yeah, yeah of course. Just a one night stand. What else would it be?" Louis gives him a fake grin. Harry nods. "I- uh- just wanted to make sure you didn't have any expectations."

Harry shakes his head. "Nope, none." Louis nods. He should've known. It was too good to be true. "Except," that's good, Louis likes except. "I was thinking, maybe it didn't have to be a one time thing? I mean, you're not seeing anyone, I'm not seeing anyone, we live together, it's convenient."

No, definitely not. So much could go wrong, definitely a bad idea. "Yeah, we could." Of course his mouth doesn't agree but Harry grins, pleased and yeah, Louis doesn't regret it so much anymore, not when Harry's smiling so bright.

"So we're good, right?" And for a second, Harry actually looks nervous, insecure even, like Louis could ever say no to him and Louis just had to reach out, pull him into a hug, comfort him.

"Of course we're good, Haz."

Harry nods, slowly climbing onto his lap. "Good." He hums, arms encircling his neck. "Great, I should say."


	14. XIV

It had been two months and Louis can't take this anymore. He can't do friends who casually fuck whenever. He hates it. He thought it would be great. But it's really not. As much as it seems like a sweet deal to have Harry and not ruin their relationship, this was killing him. He got to see Harry at his most vulnerable. He got to see him begging for more, lips quivering as he did but it wasn't enough. It was never enough. Louis wanted it all. He wanted the chaste kisses whenever they saw each other and he wanted the cuddles that would come after they tired themselves out. He didn't want just sex and it was time he let Harry know.

Of course as luck would have it, Harry starts picking extra shifts at the bakery and before he knows it, it's been over two weeks since they even saw each other and Louis is beginning to suspect something. Maybe... Maybe Harry doesn't want him anymore. Or worse. What if the condom broke the last time they had sex and Harry's pregnant? What if he's scared that Louis doesn't want the kid?

And now Louis starts psyching himself up. Finally, they get one meal together. Dinner a week later. "It's okay Harry." Louis says quietly and Harry just raises an eyebrow. "You don't have to worry. I want the kid."

"Kid?" Harry's head snaps up. "What kid?" He glares at Louis.

"Your kid. Our kid. I know you're pregnant Harry, it's okay. We'll figure it out." Louis reaches for the boy's hand but Harry pulls away.

"What the fuck do you mean you know I'm pregnant. Are you insane?"

"I'm sorry, I know it's hard. Especially after your baby girl but it doesn't have to be that way now Harry. I know the condom breaking was an accident but I want this. You don't have to be scared." And what the hell was Louis even talking about? What was going on? Had he gone insane?

"Louis there's no fucking baby. I didn't even know the condom broke!!!"

"It didn't?" Louis asks. He had spent the last week psyching himself up so much and he was so hell bent on making Harry believe he wanted the child that he didn't even stop to consider the possibility of there not being a child in the first place. "So you're not pregnant? You've not been avoiding me?"

Harry looks at him like he's gone crazy. He gets up from the table. "No Louis there's no fucking child and no broken fucking condom. What made you think that in the first place?"

Louis fish mouths. "I- I don't- you seemed okay but then suddenly you were picking extra shifts and I hadn't seen you in two weeks and I just-"

"You just thought I was a coward who ran away from problems. You assumed that just because I wasn't begging for your cock I must be scared and pregnant." Harry says quietly and Louis vigorously shakes his head but Harry isn't having any of it. "No. Not a fucking word from you Louis. You've said enough." Harry murmurs turning around and going to his room, slamming the door behind him. And just like that Louis doesn't see Harry for another week or so.

***

"Can you believe the nerve of him?" Harry snaps pacing about in Niall's room. "He has the _guts_ to tell me he wants the non-existent fucking baby!!! How dare he even mention a kid in front of me? It's been less than a year since I lost her!!!"

"Harry that's probably exactly why he mentioned it in the first place. He probably thought you were scared because of what happened last time. Besides look at the nerve of you. You think you can just barge in without any explanation and tell me that Louis wants your kid? What the actual fuck is happening?"

Harry takes a deep breath. "Okay. So about two months ago, when all of us were off getting pissed, I don't even remember what came over me. I just remember telling Louis I wanted him so bad. Didn't he tell you? He said he wanted to tell you guys before we left?"

"He told us you weren't feeling well and wanted to go home." Niall murmurs quietly. He can only imagine what happened after and how it's killing the boy.

"Anyway... We ended up having sex. Multiple times, you know, like fuck buddies. And then it got busy at the bakery with school starting up again, Barbara started to fall short of employees and I volunteered, I didn't mind and the next thing I know, the first meal we have together in nearly a month, he tells me that the condom broke the last time and it's okay because he wants the child!" Harry says furiously.

Niall frowns. "That's horrible." He says without any conviction.

"I know right? I can't believe he actually fucking said that. And to think everything was going so fucking well. But I came here because I knew you wouldn't ask as many questions as Zayn and Liam. Do you mind if I stay here a while?"

Niall shakes his head. "Nah man, it's all good, stay as long as you need." He assures the boy.

***

Louis meanwhile throws himself headfirst into work. Heaven only knows how badly he may have fucked this up. Liam doesn't notice anything is off only that Louis' been putting in extra hours.

"What's with that mate?" Liam had asked one evening, finding Louis working after hours.

"It's just the charity ball Liam. I want everything to be perfect. We can't let anything go wrong." Louis had said with a bright smile and that was that.

But it’s been two weeks since Louis started putting in extra hours and the number of hours only keeps increasing and Liam is getting more and more worried by the moment. “Lou, are you sure you’re okay, mate?”

Louis looks up at him with a weak smile. “Yeah, yeah I’m good.” He assures the man and Liam knows better than to push Louis when he doesn’t want to talk so he approaches Niall, telling him about Louis clocking in more hours and how something seems off. Niall, being the only one who knows about Harry and Louis’ little fling, immediately understands what’s going on and gives Louis a call saying he’s coming over to visitwhether Louis wants him to or not and that’s that.

Louis frowns as Niall hangs up. He sends him a text telling him he’s in the office and Niall can come to see him there. Niall quickly gets dressed and leaves, driving straight to the office. He barges into Louis’ office. “It’s fucking Sunday you Sassenach!” Niall snaps.

Louis laughs looking up at the lad. “What’s your point, Ni?” He asks

“My point is that just because you’re an absolute fucking tit, doesn’t mean you’re going to work on a Sunday.”

“Kindly clarify why you’re calling me a boob. You know I don’t have an affinity for them.” Louis states with an eye roll, because as far as he is concerned, nobody knows what happened between Harry and him and the pair are going out of their way to avoid each other.

“Louis, drop the act, Harry told me everything.” Niall huffs sitting down in front of him.

Louis lowers the screen of his laptop and looks at the boy. “What did he say?” He asks sharply.

“That you wanted him to have your kids. What the actual fuck were you thinking?”

“I- okay I’ll be really honest with you. I was just thinking about how I hadn’t seen the boy in over a week and then I started thinking that the last time we had sex, the condom broke and I got him pregnant.And I started thinking about it so much that I began to believe it so the next time I saw him, I told him all that shit.”

Niall rubs his forehead. “Okay, let’s pretend for a second that this claim of yours wasn’t beyond ridiculous in the first place. What the fuck were you thinking getting into a sex only relationship with a guy you’ve loved for over 5 years?”

“I don’t know Neil. Isn’t it very evident that I wasn’t thinking in the first place?” Louis huffs. “If you’re here to berate me over the sheer stupidity of my actions, you should go. I’ve already done that enough.”

“Mate, Harry was absolutely destroyed. He hated himself so much for snapping like that. Said it was horrible of him because you only wanted to help and were only being responsible. How do you think he’s going to feel when he realises that something that was purely physical for him wasn’t even close to physical for you?”

“Well he won’trealise that now will he?” Louis asks Niall sharply.

“I’m not going to say anything mate. No need to give me the death glare. But he’s bound to figure it out sooner or later.”

“What bullshit Niall? He hasn’t figured out shit in so many years, what makes you think he’s going to suddenly attain enlightenment?”

“Oh I don’t know… maybe the fact that you so randomly confessed that you’d like to have children with him. He may not be a genius but he’s not an idiot. He will know. Besides do have any idea how wrong it was of you to mislead him that way?”

Louis groans loudly. “What was I supposed to do when he looked at me with those damn dimples on display telling me that it didn’t have to be a one-time thing? Tell him that I was sorry he was drunk when it happened but we couldn’t do this again because I was madly in love with him?”

“That’s exactly what you should have done. He would’ve been mad for a bit but at least it would be done with. Now if he finds out you’re in love with him how mad will he be? In fact, I suggest before he figures it out for himself, you should go talk to him.”

Louis sighs painstakingly. “Niall, he’ll never forgive me. I don’t want that.” He whines.

“Mate it was my duty as a friend to tell you to stop doing this to yourself and talking to him, the rest is up to you, I’m going to head home.” With that Niall is gone leaving Louis to his thoughts. He wants to tell Harry, wishes he could but the boy would never forgive him. Niall’s right too, Harry has a right to know, maybe he’ll talk to him. He takes a deep breath and pulls out his phone sending Harry a text asking if he’d be willing to meet up.

When Harry sees the text, he doesn’t know how to react. He frowns down at his phone for a while. He knows he should reply; it’s been an hour since he sent it. “Just say yes.” Niall pipes up from over the boy’s shoulder making his heart jump out of his ribcage.

“What do you think you’re doing Niall?” Harry snaps.

“It’s Louis, I know. Wants to meet you, doesn’t he?” he asks smugly.

“I have nothing to say to him, he’s gone and made everything weird.” Harry shivers like he’s weirded out by it.

“I thought you were feeling guilty about snapping at him?”

“I am, a little. It sucks because I have no idea what to say to him.

“At least meet him, I’m sure you’ll understand what to say, conversation just flows between the two of you.” Niall pushes earnestly.

Harry sighs. _Meet me at the coffee shop by our flat in an hour. Don’t be late, I won’t wait for even a second._ Harry texts Louis who reads it almost immediately. He quickly finishes the document he was typing at and stows his stuff away, quickly swivelling in his chair before grabbing his blazer and running off. He just locks the main building texting Liam to please come and lock it properly and he’ll clock in extra hours to make up. Getting into his car, he puts the car in drive, reaching the café as fast as humanly possible.

He arrives a few minutes early, sitting at one of the tables eyeing the door apprehensively. When Harry gets there, Louis gives a small wave, calling him over. He slowly makes his way there.

“I’m sorry,” is the first thing Louis says, once the boy sits down. Louis was a big businessman with an ever bigger pride but when it came to Harry, he had no qualms about putting his pride aside.

“You’re sorry? Why? I’m the one who should be sorry. You were just being nice Louis. I just, you have to understand after what happened earlier, I can’t even think about kids. It hurts too much.” Harry’s voice cracks at the last sentence.

“I know love, I know. I wasn’t thinking. I just, you had started picking up more shifts and I thought that you were doing it to avoid me and then the thoughts built one on top of the other to such a point that it started seeming real.” Louis explains.

“I get it Louis. I’m lucky you cared enough to not run away at theslightest hint of responsibility. But please, never ever mention kids in front of me, ever.” Harry pleads softly just as a three-year-old runs up to their table and pokes Louis.

“Oh, hi love, how can I help you?” Louis asks the little girl.

“My Choo-Choo.” She says pointing at Louis’ chair.

“Your what? I’m sorry love I don’t understand.”

“Choo-Choo.” She repeats stoically.

“Harry?” he looks at the boy who is staring at them transfixed. “Any idea what she means?” he asks but gets no response.

“Choo-Choo.” She whines pumping her fist like she was letting steam out of a steam engine and finally Louis understands.

“Train? You mean a train?” he asks eagerly and she nods excitedly pointing to Louis’ chair again.

“Oh is the train trapped at Chairshire Station?” Louis asks looking at Harry for his approval of the lame joke. When he gets none, he quietly gets up and pushes his chair away so that the girl can take her engine. “Run along, love.” He says quietly. He finally looks back at Harry to find his eyes rimmed with red. “Harry, are you okay?” he asks softly. The boy just nods and looks away, frantically wiping his eyes. Louis reaches for his hand. “Hey, let’s get out of here yeah?” he offers and Harry just nods, still not meeting his eyes. Louis signals for the bill, leading Harry out once he’s paid. He opens the car door for him and helps him in. Once he gets in, he turns to Harry. “H, you can’t afford to break down every time you see a child. That’s not how it works.”

“Don’t try to teach me how it works Louis, I don’t care. I lost a kid not two months ago, you can’t expect to be over the moon every time I see a child.” Harry snaps, wiping the tear falling down his cheek. Louis wordlessly wraps his arms around the boy who breaks down completely. “I’m so so-sorry.” He sobs. “I just m-m-miss her so much.” Louis quietly shushes him rubbing his back soothingly.

“You’re okay, it’s okay, I understand what you’re feeling,” He murmurs in his ear. They sit like that for a few minutes, till Harry’s sobs subside. “Hey Haz, wanna know a secret?” Louis asksquietly. Harry pulls away and looks at the boy curiously, waiting for him to carry on. “When she, you know was taken away from you, I felt so crushed. I couldn’t even look at Ernie and Doris without feeling like absolute shit. Mum wanted you to Skype them, called me multiple times but then I finally just told her and god, Harry, she was so angry for you. She told me something she’d never told anyone but Mark. She told me she had multiple miscarriages, one before me, and two after. So naturally I asked her how she dealt with it and she told me she decided she wanted a child that very minute and she tried and tried till she conceived me. Told me she used to blame herself, miss the baby she lost, until her psychologist, yeah she had to see a psychologist, forced her to talk to her OBGYN again and she found out that the child was better off not being born, that Jay’s body wasn’t ready for pregnancy and it could’ve been a stillbirth or the child could have birth defects. And your baby, Harry can you imagine what would’ve happened? She had a congenital heart disease, who knows how fatal it would have been. What if she died before you even got to hold her? Or before she said her first word? Or even worse, what if she just didn’t come home from school one day? What if you were having a busy day and the last thing you ever said to her was, don’t misbehave at Uncle Niall’s or quickly eat your breakfast? Would you ever be able to forgive yourself? And her healthcare? You work in a bakery Harry, do you know how expensive that kind of medical care would have been? Tell me, what would you do if you had no time to tell your baby girl how much you loved her because you were too busy trying to pay all the damn bills?” by now both of them were crying, Louis breathing heavily from all his pent up thoughts coming out.

“I’m sorry.” Harry whispers brokenly.

“No love, don’t be. I don’t want you to feel guilty about being hurt. Just, move on. I know it’s easy for me to ask you to move on but you have to stop beating yourself up over it, it wasn’t your fault. She’s better off up in heaven where she doesn’t need to feel the pain.” Harry just nods. “Do you want me to take you home?” he asks gently.

“Stuff’s at Niall’s.” He sniffles.

“What? What’s your stuff doing at Niall’s?” Louis asks quizzically.

“You didn’t notice? I- I’ve been staying at his since our little confrontation.”

“I was too busy staying at the office trying to avoid you. I’ve been going home well past midnight since that day.” He admits sheepishly. “Do you still want to stay there?”

“No, he’s far too neat for me.” Harry teases.

“Oh my god, I hate you, get out of my car.” Louis laughs outraged.

“Oh shut it. Take me home and tell Niall to pack my shit.” He orders making Louis laugh again and nod.

 

 

 

 


	15. XV

It had been two weeks since Harry had come back and Louis was sure the boy was sick. He had been pale all day and was moaning about feeling exhausted and starved but didn’t feel like eating anything.

“Love, I think we should go to the doctor’s.” Louis tells him softly.

“But Lou… you know I hate going to the clinic.” Harry grumbles weakly.

“Babe, you’re Edward Cullen white right now. I know how much you hate that shade of white.” Louis teases playfully.

Harry lets out another sad whine. “But I’m so tired. Can’t we call the doctor here, please Louis?”

“Oh, all right you big baby. I’ll phone the damn doctor and ask him to come over.” Louis says getting up. He comes back after making the call and Harry pouts at him.

“I’m cold, cuddle me.” He mumbles sadly and Louis coos a little before getting in bed with him. Harry comfortably snuggles up to him and fists his hands in his shirt. “Hey Lou, can I ask you something?” Harry inquires gently. Louis nods and pulls away a little to look at the boy properly.  “I know I promised that I wouldn’t bring it up again but it keeps plaguing my mind; why did you say that you wanted the “kid” with me?” Harry does air quotes.

Louis smiles a little sheepishly. “Uh- I don’t know. I think it was because I didn’t want you to be scared or think that you had to go through this alone. I wanted to be there for you, kind of like I always have been, yeah?” Harry chuckles at that.

“Nick seemed to think it was because you were in love with me.” Harry snorts lightly but his eyes are trained on Louis’ expression which, for the first time since Harry had known him, was absolutely unreadable.

Louis fakes a snort. “That’s downright ridiculous. You know Nick has his funny notions about everything. He always seemed to think that in middle school, you popped multiple boners over me.” Louis laughs and Harry flushes. Louis notices this, of course he does. Nothing Harry does goes past him. “Wait, it’s true?” he asks incredulously.

Harry shoves him irritably. “Don’t be ridiculous. You were downright ugly in middle school. You looked like a rat with a shaved face.”

Louis laughs even louder at this. “Aw, it’s okay if Baby Harry got turned on by shaved rats. We all had our weird moments back then.” He says teasingly.

“Oh shut up Tommo.” Harry says just as the doorbell rings and Louis goes out to answer it. He shows the doctor in and his phone pings with a text. He pulls it out. Niall had sent him a picture of a positive pregnancy test. Louis stares at the picture for a while before typing out a reply. **Who did you knock up?**

The reply comes in within seconds. _I emptied out the guest bath trash today. There’s eight more. One of them is negative._

It takes Louis a few seconds to register it. He drops his phone. Both Harry and the doctor look at him like he’s lost his marbles so he quickly retrieves his phone. “Slipped.” He mumbles, giving Harry a look. “What’s wrong doctor?” Louis asks trying to get the attention off himself.

“It’s just the flu, Mr Tomlinson.” She says. “He should be up and about in no time. Just keep giving him warm liquids and lots of rest.” She gets up and the two of them go out. Louis settles the payment and shows her out before going back to the room. He looks at Harry carefully. He doesn’t seem any different.

“Harry isn’t there anything you want to say to me?” Louis asks carefully. Harry looks up at him, the absolute picture of innocence.

“No, is everything okay?” Harry asks with a small smile.

“You tell me. Niall found something in the trash of the guest bedroom.” Louis hints. “You want to tell me what that was and why was it there?”

“Oh! Oh, um y-yeah about that. Um, it was a false positive.”

“Harry you realise if Niall saw one, he saw the other seven too?” Louis asks with an arched brow.

“Well then he would know that they were negative.” Harry says resolutely.

“One of them,” Louis states irritably.

“Ugh fine okay, fine. I’m fucking pregnant, again. What are you going to do about it huh?” Harry snaps angrily.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Harry? You know I would’ve been there for you.”

“Louis, I don’t want your fucking pity, okay? Stop doing me all these damn favours. I don’t want them.” Harry spits out viciously.

“I wouldn’t be showing you pity, you absolute arse!! That’s my kid too! I would be doing what I should be, being a responsible dad!! No wonder you’re sick - carrying a kid and a secret!”

“Louis please, just leave me be, I don’t expect anything from you. This isn’t your headache; it’s my problem to deal with.”

“Harry you don’t get to decide that for me. I want it to be my “headache” as well.  I want to help out in whatever way I can, in whatever way you’ll let me.” Louis appeals to him earnestly.

“What if I don’t want your help Louis? What if I just want to be independent?” Harry asks him.

“I can’t let you. This is my kid as well. Please, love let’s just do this the right way. We can figure it out.”

“Oh yeah, Tell me how do you plan on explaining to the kid how their fathers met?” Harry glares at him. “Oh funny story actually love, we were best friends for the longest of time before we decided it would be a good idea to fuck around and I accidentally got pregnant. Lovely conversation baby, now finish your veggies.”

Louis finds himself laughing despite the gravity of the situation. “Harry, don’t be ridiculous!!”

“What else, Lou? Tell me one set of best friends you know who aren’t together but are having a kid together?”

“Harry, come on, you’re seriously going to let something this absurd stand in the way of having a lovely child with someone you actually can trust?”

“Louis, that’s a dumb ass argument! You don’t show your trust by having kids with a person.” Harry rubs his forehead tiredly.

“That’s not what I mean, H. You know that; I mean that it is so important to trust the person you have a child with and admittedly our situation could’ve been better but it really isn’t that bad. I know we can make this work. And if it gets too weird we can live separately and have joint custody. Everyone wins. Well, I mean it’s going to suck that the kid can’t have both his parents at the same time but at least he gets to have both of us?”

Harry sighs. “Just give me some time to think about it, please?” Louis nods.

“I’ll go get your medicines. Take your time, once you arrive at a conclusion, let me know.” Harry nods and rubs his forehead tiredly. He doesn’t know how to deal with this. He can’t believe he was stupid enough to leave the tests in the trash can. If he had just thrown them out, it would’ve all been okay.

Louis goes to his room and calls Niall freaking out over how to deal with this. Niall shushed him and talked him to calmness “This is a big decision for him, Lou. Just give him the time and space he needs to figure it out by himself. I mean yeah, don’t let him take a decision by himself but just give him the time he needs to come to terms with it. It’s not very easy losing a child and finding out mere months later that you’re already pregnant again.”

Louis sighs turning back to see if Harry was around. “I know Niall, I know, but you know how long I’ve waited for this very chance. The chance to start a family with the man I love, the man who -”

“- doesn’t love you back. Don’t forget that Lou, you’re going to hurt yourself real bad if you let yourself believe that he loves you back. He may and he may not but until and unless he tells you himself exactly how he feels, please don’t go around assuming that he likes you as much as you like him. It’ll only end in disaster. And if, for some reason, Harry decides he wants to raise the child with you, like a family instead of joint custody then please do tell him that you love him, because he will find out eventually and -”

“- and when he does it’ll break him and he’ll never forgive you. I know Niall, I know. You’ve told me the same damn thing a million times. It’s not going to change how I feel about Harry and what I deem as the correct time to tell him how I feel.” Just then, there’s a knock on his door. “Harry? Come in.” Louis says. “Ni, I’ll call later, yeah?” He says his goodbyes before hanging up and waits for Harry to say whatever he came to say.

“Did I disturb anything?” Harry asks almost timidly.

Louis gives him a warm smile. “No, love, not at all. Come sit. Is there any reason that you came all the way here instead of giving me a ring.”

Harry smiles. “Well, I reached a semi decision. I’m going to stay here throughout the pregnancy and depending on how that goes, I’ll decide further on whether the idea of raising the child together appeals to me more or having joint custody.”

Louis gives him a warm smile. “I think that’s a brilliant way to go about it. But for now, I need you to rest.”

“Thank you for being so calm about this, Lou.  I feel like I’m losing my head. I have no idea if my decisions are correct or-”

Louis shushes him. “Alright, that’s enough over thinking for today, mister. Come on now, you need sleep. You have a fever and it’s only going to get worse if you don’t rest.” Louis slowly pushes him to a lying down position and tucks him in. “Sleep tight, love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone who's still reading this, I'm so sorry I've been so bloody careless with updates but now that I have a torn ligament and summer break, I will be updating faster. Thank you so much for sticking through my inconsistency


	16. XVI

“Mum, I fucked up.”

“Louis Tomlinson, what kind of language is that?” Jay snaps.  Louis sighs and begins explaining; everything, right from the fateful day of their drunken sexcapade telling her how he thought that it would be his worst decision and how it turned out to be one of the best. He got to have Harry in a way that he had only experienced in dreams (“Louis, baby, I love you, but please spare your poor mother the details of your wet dreams.”) He talks about how it only made him fall more in love with the boy. “I thought I would be over him once I had my fill, but fuck, mum, I, it’s never enough, I can’t get enough of him.” He tells her how he promised himself to be so very careful with the boy, to never let anyone hurt him. Then he talks about how suddenly they just stopped one day, how he had no idea what was happening and how he thought he completely messed up and jumped to ridiculous conclusions. And finally, he tells her how he turned out to be right and now he’s freaking out.

“Wait, what do you mean, you were right?”

“He’s actually pregnant mum, and it’s entirely my fault. He was just starting to get over his miscarriage and now I’ve gone and horribly messed things up for him. I don’t know what to do.” He sighs, sitting down on one of the park benches.

“What did you say to him, how is he dealing with all of this?”

“I told him I wanted to be a part of the kid’s life. He seems calm but he claims to be losing his head, he’s been sick for a few days now so I’m just like forcing him to sleep as much as I humanly can.”

“What did Anne say?”

“I don’t know if she knows yet. I think Harry wants to tell her in person. I mean, it’s kind of a messy situation. I do know that he’s not going to cut me out of the child’s life, he’s already agreed to stay for the duration of the pregnancy and to get joint custody if doing it together doesn’t work out.”

“Oh that’s a good sign; this clearly shows that he’s thinking clearly. He’s dealing with it better than you’re giving him credit for… but,” she hesitates, “what are you going to do, Lou? You can’t lead him on any longer. He’ll catch up soon enough and he’s going to be so hurt when he does. It was a bad idea to even get sexually involved with someone who isn’t on the same page as you are.”

“I know, mummy, I just can’t understand what to do, I know I’ll have to tell him soon now. I just need to wait for the right time.”

“There is no right time, my silly boy. You just have to snatch the moment and make it right.” She says softly. “I have to go, my beautiful boy, Doris is crying. Take care baby, mummy loves you so much.”

Louis tears up and his voice catches in his throat. “I love you too mummy and I miss you so much. Take care of yourself.” He whispers before hearing a hasty ‘miss you too’ and a telltale beep, signalling the call had ended. He slowly makes his way back to the office; his quick fifteen minute lunch had turned into almost an hour long call with his mother. Liam was being less pesky than usual, whether it was because of the bags under Louis’ eyes, the sheer redness of said eyes or just how on edge he was all day, he didn’t know and Louis didn’t care to ask. Frankly, he could use both the space and the leniency.

Louis had only just reached the office when his phone rang again, Harry’s name flashing across the screen making him sigh tiredly.

“Lou?” he sounds like death and Louis tells him just that. “I know, it’s just, I couldn’t sleep so I was thinking of going to visit my mum tomorrow and tell her everything and I just called to ask if you could please come with me because I don’t think I can do it alone.” He mumbles.

“Harry, are you sure that it’s appropriate for me to be there?” Louis asks worriedly. “I mean, don’t you think that this is a conversation that you and Anne need to have alone?”

“It is, but I can’t do it, not alone, I’m exhausted, physically, mentally, emotionally, I just, I can’t deal with the stuff mum will have to say about this entire situation if I go alone. At least with you around, she’ll avoid certain things.”

“I’m being used as a mummy repellent. I see how it is, Styles.” He huffs dramatically, getting a weak chuckle out of the boy. “Fine, I’ll do it, yeah? Just text me the time so I can pick you up from home, and I’ll try to come home early. Does Thai sound good? It’ll help your clogged toilet of a nose.”

He can almost hear Harry’s grin on the other end and he’s glad things haven’t changed much when Harry responds “It’s your shitty cologne that clogged it actually.”

Louis makes and undignified gasp. “You fucking hypocrite! I can literally see you in my bed _on my side_ wearing my shirt and you dare call my cologne shitty.”

“You can’t prove anything.” Harry grins smugly on the other end although Louis is absolutely right. Louis smells good okay? It’s not his fault.

“I’ll see you in a bit.” Louis says through a laugh before hanging up.

“Lovesick fool, that’s what you are, honestly. It’s disgusting to see you two talk.” Liam snaps from where he’s sitting at Louis’ desk, making the man in question nearly jump out of his skin.

“Fucking hell, what are you doing here, Liam?” Louis snaps.

“Was getting bored, you said you’d be back in fifteen minutes but Jamal said you weren’t back so I thought I’d get some of your shit done because you’re a lazy arse. But clearly all you’re not lazy just busy bantering with your boy like an old married couple.”

“Shut the fuck up and get out of my office.” Louis snaps making Liam cackle and leave.

* * *

 

“Honey I’m home.” Louis calls in a high pitched voice, smug clear in his tone. Harry turns from where he was sitting on the couch and smiles at Louis.

“Oh _darling!_ How I’ve missed you!” he exclaims, blowing him a kiss. Louis chuckles and heats the Thai take away he picked up on the way, bringing it over to the couch.

“How’re you feeling?” he asks scanning Harry’s face for signs of fatigue. Harry sighs softly and rests his head on the backrest of the couch.

“Colds are exhausting.” He says as a response. Louis makes a sympathetic noise and hands him the container. “Bless you.” Harry grins gratefully.

“’S no big deal.” He smiles and settles back comfortably. “What are we watching?”

“I’m all caught up on The Flash if you want to watch the new episode?”

“Fucking finally, I’ve been waiting forever.” Louis sighs happily and Harry puts it on, nudging Louis’ arm over his shoulder and snuggling up to him, taking the container from him and holding it out in front of him so he could eat while cuddling him, handing his to Louis so the angle for both of them would be convenient. Louis continues eating like nothing even happened. No wonder everyone thought that they were an old married couple, they were completely in sync with each other.

“You know, Lou, I kinda figured something out about this.” Harry says seriously and Louis hums, urging him to continue. “I think future Barry is Savitar. I don’t know, the guy keeps saying ‘I am the future Flash.’ Not once has he said I am the future, it’s always I am the future Flash. It’s gotta mean something right?”

Louis seriously ponders over it for a minute. “You know what Harry? I think you’re on to something here, babe. That makes so much sense.” Harry grins satisfied and goes back to his food. A minute later, Louis speaks up again. “But then again, it doesn’t make sense; Barry would never kill Iris, no matter what, even if they broke up.”

Harry thinks about it, “hmm, you’re probably right,” he sighs, “ugh but it’d be so cool if that’s the case. Like remember how Caitlin said they’d be so shocked if they knew who it was? Like it can’t be Jay Garrick/ Hunter from Earth 3 because that’s just boring and like Earth 2 Hunter actually had a reason. I mean what could be more shocking that it being Barry himself?”

Louis chuckles. “You are thinking about this way too seriously, love. We’ll find out eventually.”

“No, I’m willing to bet it’s him. I don’t know why Barry would kill Iris but I know it’s him.” Harry says firmly.

“Fine, you idiot, let’s do it. 30 quid it’s not Barry.” Louis smirks.

Harry pouts. “But that’s a lot of characters in your- you know what? Fine. 30 quid it’s Barry. But since you have more characters and _statistically_ better odds, if I win, you will additionally give me foot rubs for the rest of the year.”

‘I’d give you foot rubs all year round anyway,’ Louis finds himself thinking. He quickly schools his features into a pained grimace. “Your gross feet? Ugh fine. Good thing you’re not going to win.” They finish the rest of the episode in silence. Once the episode ends, they untangle their limbs and Louis clears the takeout container while Harry prepares tea. Like clockwork, they go about their nightly routine before going to their separate rooms.

Louis didn’t appreciate this new sleeping arrangement but he understood that it was already weird enough for Harry to be pregnant with his best friend’s kid and it was only natural that he’d want to establish some boundaries. At least that’s what he thought till Harry slid into his bed complaining about how cold it was. The line that established boundaries between them was thinner than ever and it scared both of them equally.

* * *

 

“Okay.” Anne says slowly, dragging out the syllables.

“I know it’s weird to you, Mum but we’ll make it work I promise. We’ll probably separate after the baby is born and go for joint custody.” It pains Louis to hear Harry say that with so much ease but he’s thankful for the reality check.

Anne mutters something that sounds suspiciously like “I doubt that,” making Louis smile just a little. She sighs softly. “Well I can’t really ask you to abort the baby, not that I want you to. You’re two adults living on your own; you’re old enough to make your own decisions. Just make sure you’re both on the same page. You’ve been friends for literally ever and I’m sure you don’t want to lose each other.”

Her last two sentences seem directed towards Louis and he just sighs because apparently even Anne can see how crazy he is for Harry, so it really is just Harry. Literally just Harry because the other day fucking Nicola who Louis rarely even sees around asked him if he and Harry were together yet. Give it a year and the youngest twins would be asking the same thing. Louis is beginning to think that their child will realise how in love Louis is with Harry before Harry realises it.

“Don’t worry, Mum, we’re on the same page, right Lou?” Harry asks with a soft smile and Louis has no idea what the boy just said but he knows he has been asked for confirmation and Harry’s got the most beautiful smile on his face so he just blindly agrees.

“Of course, of course.” He says with a weak grin. Anne sighs softly and Louis immediately knows she’s not pleased but then again, Harry seems satisfied, so it doesn’t really matter what Anne feels.

“Just take care of him okay?” Anne says softly and Louis smiles just a little and nods confidently. Harry offers to make them some tea and as soon as he’s out of earshot Anne turns to Louis fiercely. “When are you telling him, Louis? This is getting ridiculous! Honestly you’re lucky I haven’t killed you! What were you thinking having sex with him?”

Louis makes a distressed sound. “I don’t know, the first time we were drunk and then he just asked for it and I couldn’t –”

“Wait, this was more than one time? What the hell is going on here?”

“I’m sorry okay? When your son asks for something, I just give it to him; you know how persuasive he can be.”

“I’ll tell you what I know, Louis.” Anne huffs angrily. “What I do know is that my son is an oblivious idiot who has absolutely no idea as to how crazily in love with him you are and he is going to be downright furious when he finds out. How could you do this to him? I thought you were better than this.”

Louis feels inexplicably guilty. He’s never seen Anne get this angry over anything. “I don’t know I have no idea what I was thinking or why I didn’t put a stop to it. Yes I am absolutely in love with Harry and there’s no way I’m even going to try denying that. I promise I’m going to tell him very soon, I won’t lead him on. Not any longer. I know he’s going to be very mad at me and might as well completely shut me out of both his and the baby’s life and if that’s what he chooses to do, I’ll accept it. I’ll tell him as soon as I humanly can. I promise.”

“Louis, love, there’s no one better suited for Harry out there than you. I know it, everyone knows it. And Jay too says that there’s no one better for you than my baby but you need to understand that if Harry returns your feelings, he either hasn’t recognised it yet or is fiercely denying it, whether it is because he doesn’t see how much you love him or because he’s just scared to fall in love again. Just take care of my boy okay? It’s hard for me to accept that the he loved a man as vile as Mychal but he did, maybe for a short while, maybe as a replacement for you but he said that he loved him with all he had. You have to be careful with him. I refuse to let him get hurt again.”

Louis nods firmly. “I’ll never hurt him Anne, I promise. I’ll tell him as soon as I can and I only hope he won’t push me away.” Anne just smiles at him as Harry comes back with the tea. He hands Anne her mug and takes the other two in his hands, giving one to Louis before carefully settling back against Louis.

“What are we talking about?” He asks cheerfully

“We’re talking about which doctor you should see.”                            

“Oh god, not again,” Harry sighs. “I don’t get what the problem is?”

“Well I think we should see Sara again because she’s at the top of her practice but Anne says you probably won’t want to go back to her, which makes sense, in that case we’ll have to look for someone else.”

“No, I want to go to Sara. I trust her, she was good with me and she made me feel comfortable.”

“That’s the spirit, love.” Louis says pleased. Anne looks at Louis sternly and Louis wipes the dopey smile off his face. Let’s just say that wasn’t the last time Anne gave him that look that evening.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	17. XVII

Louis knew exactly who to kill when Liam texts him the words _do I congratulate you or pray for your heart?_ He’s already calling Niall before he realises it.

“I’m sorry!!” Niall immediately says upon answering, not even letting Louis acknowledge the fact that he let slip to the boys that Louis and Harry were having a child.

“How do you even manage to bring that up in everyday conversation?” Louis cries exasperatedly.

“It’s not my fault. Zayn just said that he was glad you both sorted your shit out and I just absentmindedly said that you kind of had to since you were having a kid together and all that.”

“I fucking hate you. Harry is going to kill you. He’s having a horrible day, he just realised that he put on a kg and he’s still having weird cravings, good fucking luck.” He snaps, hanging up. He gets back to his job. So much for telling Harry today then. It seemed like the universe hated Louis. Every time Louis tried to tell Harry how he felt about him, something would crop up and he’d put it off to tomorrow. He was leaving for home in another two hours and Harry was already home since he had a morning shift. He asked Louis to pick a shit load of weird stuff on the way because of his pregnancy cravings and he sounded horribly cranking. Louis was not looking forward to telling him about Niall’s fuck up.

***

“Harry?” Louis calls out slowly, laden with groceries.

“If you don’t have the shit I asked you to bring, get the fuck out and don’t show me your face till you have everything.” Harry snaps venomously from the dining table where he was reading a book.

Louis feels his heart sink. How would he ever going to bring this up? “No worries. I have everything.” He assures, going to put the stuff away.

“Don’t.” Harry stops Louis. “I’m hungry. I’ll put them away myself when I’m done.” Louis nods.

“Do you need me or am I okay to go take a shower?” Louis asks hesitantly.

“Well, I’m not your fucking mother, Louis; I doubt a grown ass man needs his roommate’s permission to shower.” Harry scoffs coldly and Louis gulps. Harry’s really pissed, isn’t he? He just nods and runs up to his room to take a shower.

He’s genuinely surprised by Harry’s attitude. He must be having a really bad day otherwise he doesn’t really snap at Louis, just tells him that he’s having a bad day and isn’t feeling too chirpy. It doesn’t settle right with Louis. It has to be more than just pregnancy hormones. When he goes downstairs after his shower, Harry has already finished eating and is putting the groceries away so Louis quietly joins him and they put everything away in silence

“Something happened at work, no?” Louis prompts after 3 minutes of tense silence. Harry presses his lips together for a few seconds and finally nods. “You wanna talk about it?” He asks gently, unassuming. Harry mulls it over for a minute.

“I don’t know.” He finally admits; his voice hoarse with lack of use. Louis nods. “Let’s get to bed, yeah? We’ll see if you’re up to talking then.” He offers, gentle but firm at the same time. Harry nods. “You go on. I’ll join you in a bit. Kind of wanna take another shower.” Louis hums in understanding and gives the boy a one armed hug.

“It’s okay.” He assures him and it shouldn’t but it instantly calms some of the fire burning in Harry’s brain, still reeling from his long, long, long day. He briefly curls into Louis’ arms basking in his warmth before pulling away and giving him a weak smile. “Tea?” He offers and Harry nods saying a soft please.

***

“Lou?” Harry whispers softly shaking Louis gently.

“Harry? Is everything okay?” He asks groggily.

“Yeah I’m okay, just needed a cuddle.” He murmurs and gets into the bed cuddling into him.

Louis sighs softly and wraps his arms around him and pulls him closer. “What happened today? You seem, well, you clearly were proper pissed.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it, please.” He whispers faintly, silence falling between them. “Thanks for the tea and the groceries, it really helped me get my head back on straight.” Louis just nods and kisses the top of his head softly. A calm silence envelopes them again. “He came in today.” Harry finally says. Louis rubs his back slowly, encouraging him to continue. “He had his son with him. I- I don’t –

“Hey, it’s okay, I’ve got you, Haz, breathe babe.” Louis murmurs, carding his fingers through his hair.

“I – the lady, she came in with the kid, he wasn’t more than 5 months old and like, I didn’t recognise her, Lou and I was just playing with the kid and stuff and –

Harry shakes his head, hiding in Louis’ arms. Louis quietly shushes him and kisses his forehead, comforting him, telling him that he didn’t have to talk about it.

“I need to get it out,” he insisted, “he tried to get me fired, accused me of harassment, but Barbara recognised him and told me to go in the back while she dealt with him. It broke me so much. It’s just not fair, why does he get to have a happy life?” he sobs softly.

“Harry, baby, I know it’s not fair that you lost your baby and just when you were starting to accept it, I got you pregnant again, I’m sorry, but now is your chance yes? Things only get better from here. I promise. Everything will be okay, now.” He reassures.

“You’re just saying that!” Harry accuses and Louis earnestly shakes his head.

“No love, I mean it, enough of bad luck and sadness in your life; all that is left to happen now is for things to get better. You’re going to have a lovely healthy baby and we’re going to raise the child like the fantastic fathers that we are and you’re going to become an even better baker and then you’ll be opening your own bakery and you’ll be this big famous baker and it’s going to be fucking wonderful.”

Harry chuckles wetly. “You can really be unrealistic at times you know. But you still manage to cheer me up so I won’t complain.” He grins and hides his face in Louis’ shoulder.

Louis smiles brightly. Now? He wonders whether he should bring up Niall right now or not. He doesn’t want to ruin Harry’s mood again but he also doesn’t know when the next opportunity would present itself.  “Hey Harry, I’ve been thinking…” he trails off slowly.

“That can’t be good.” Harry teases before nodding, a gesture for Louis to continue.

“When do you wanna tell the boys? I mean Niall already knows and it won’t be long before he blabs and don’t you think they’d want us to tell them?” Louis offers. He wonders if Harry can see through his pathetic attempt to cover up Niall’s slip.

“Niall already blabbed, didn’t he?” Harry asks in a no nonsense tone and fuck, Harry did see through. Louis just nods sheepishly and opens his mouth to defend him. “It’s just as well,” Harry says, before Louis can utter so much as a syllable, “I mean, saves us the awkwardness of telling them. In fact let’s call them over tomorrow and convince Niall to tell them how exactly does he know? Let’s see how he explains looking through the trash.”

A laugh bubbles out of Louis. “Just when I thought I couldn’t love you any more,” he says lightly, Harry not even realising the weight behind the words.

“Hush now, lemme sleep, you can worship my brilliance later.” He snorts and Louis just nods, both of them falling asleep, minds on vastly different perspectives of the same situation.

***

“Lou.” Liam murmurs as he enters their flat but Louis just shakes his head and mouths ‘later’. Liam sighs and goes into the living room, Zayn behind him and Niall arriving a few minutes later.

“I’m assuming this is about you knocking Harry up?” Zayn asks bluntly making Liam choke on thin air and Niall burst into cackles, the thick tension dissipating immediately.

“Yeah but ya know, since Niall was so keen on being the one to tell people, why don’t you tell them. The details and stuff, how _you_ found out in the first place.” Louis says with a satisfied smirk and Niall turns slightly paler. There really is no way to explain around going through the garbage in his bathroom.

Nonetheless, Niall begins to explain. When Niall is finally done, Liam turns to him.

“I still don’t understand why you were going through the trash.” He says and Niall just shrugs.

“Does it really matter? I mean, this idiot would’ve probably waited till he started showing to actually tell us that this other idiot knocked him up and then they would spend months being mad at each other and the child would’ve been born in a mad house.”

Louis opens his mouth to protest but then closes it. Niall was probably right. It did sound like something that they would do.

Harry was absolutely silent, mind reeling. He was partly relieved and partly angry. While he was glad that everything was out in the open, he firmly believed that it was very wrong of Niall to make that decision for him and not let him decide for himself when he wanted to tell everyone, Louis included. He wanted to snap at Niall, the child was his, the body was his, why should anyone else have a say in what happened to the life growing inside of him. All these thoughts had been building up over the course of the last few days and they were ready to come bursting out. Clearly, Louis understood that Harry was in some strange headspace because he was brought back to earth with cold fingers curled around his elbow.

Louis gave Harry a questioning look and Harry simply shook his head, getting up and disappearing into his room, the loud slam of the door a clear indicator of how pissed the boy was. Niall raised his eyebrows at him and Louis shrugged as if to say ‘don’t ask me.’

Zayn looks between the both of them and scoffs. “You’re both idiots.” He huffs and gets up going to knock at Harry’s door.

“Go away Louis, I don’t wanna talk to you.” Harry calls and Louis smiles a little unsurprised but extremely pleased at the fact that Harry would automatically assume that it was he who went after him.

“It’s Zayn, dickhead.” He huffs, displeased.

“Fine. Go away Zayn, I don’t wanna talk to you.” He scoffs.

“Harry, shut up and open up. I’m not giving you an option.” Zayn commands irritably.

Harry sighs painstakingly and opens the door. Zayn enters and immediately locks it behind them. “You better be here to say something.” Zayn is about to start speaking when Harry cuts him off. “And it better not be shit about how you know I’m hormonal and how you know it sucks.”

“Yeah yeah shut up and listen for once in your life.” He rolls his eyes. “Look, I know you’re mad, you wanted to tell everyone in your own time and it was very wrong of Niall to do it for you. Ideally, he should’ve approached you with the tests and asked you about it instead of telling Louis but try to understand how Louis feels right now. You better than the rest of us, know that Louis isn’t very rational, more often than not, his emotions get the best of him and he’s been feeling a lot of emotions lately, and I know you know what I’m talking about,” Zayn pauses, allowing Harry to interject if he pleased.

Harry flatly denies it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, all I know is that I don’t appreciate Niall acting like he did me a favour, I’m the one who has to ultimately raise the child. It’s too easy for Louis to walk out-

“That has to be the stupidest shit you’ve ever said, Harry!! You _know_ Louis would never walk out on you, both because he’s too damn honourable a person and because of how much you mean to him. He would wholeheartedly accept full responsibility of the child and would be a better father than most people who are actually ready for the responsibility could ever be.”

“Look, Zayn, the fact remains that Louis Tomlinson, a human being who did not sign up for responsibility ‘x’, has the choice and the whole right to not partake in any responsibility of ‘x’ whereas I, Harry Styles, a human being who is the cause of responsibility ‘x’ has to handle it whether or not I wish to.”

“You could always get an abortion, Haz, it’s really not as melodramatic as you’re making it out to be.”

“I could, but you and I both know that I would never, you and I both know that no matter how much I fear having to raise my child alone, I’d do it anyway.”

“Harry-

“Zayn, I don’t know why I got up and left, I honestly can’t deny the possibility of my pregnancy hormones causing it but what I do know is that I didn’t leave to be followed, I left because I needed alone time. I need time to actually absorb all of this, which in case you didn’t notice, Niall didn’t let me, I hadn’t even known for three whole days before Louis found out. Just leave me alone for a while and tell Louis that I’m fine and just want to be alone. He’s probably worried out of his mind already.”

Zayn lets out a resigned sigh and nods. “Feel better mate, I’m sorry we found out this way.” He pats his shoulder on the way out, closing the door behind him.

                                                                                                                                                                


	18. XVIII

Everything was building up; turning into this big mess he didn’t think he could take, so Louis did what he should’ve done years ago. He told Harry exactly how he felt. 

“Hey Haz, do you have a moment?” he asks nervously. Harry just nods confusedly and sets his book aside. “I- I think you know what this is about.” He murmurs softly. “There’s really no two ways about it so I’m just going to spit it out. I… I love you.” He says quietly. Harry doesn’t respond for a straight minute, and then he gets up and starts walking away. “Harry, please don’t walk away from me, love. Just say something.” He calls loudly.

“I don’t know what to say Lou. I’ve never looked at you in that light. I’ve not had the time to! In the last year I’ve been through the worst breakup of my life, lost a baby and now I’m pregnant with the child of a man who is in love with me! And I’m not even in the position to say whether or not I love him back.” Harry snaps angrily. Louis takes Harry’s hands.

“Haz, I’m so sorry I put you in this position.” He kisses his hands. “I uh I’m willing to leave, like, for good, I don’t want you to have any kind of stress. Heaven knows you don’t need that. Take all the time you need and I guess, I mean, all I ask from you is that you don’t disappear on me. I need you around.” He says slowly, trying to keep his voice level.

Harry angrily pulls his hands away. “I can’t do this. Not now. I- I’m gonna go stay with my mum for a while. Please don’t text or call me, I’ll come back once I’m ready to talk. I won’t disappear forever. I promise.” He gets up.

“Harry-

“No Lou, please, just let me handle this my way. I don’t think I can do this right now. I need time, please. I need to think about this, you just made a huge confession okay?”  
Louis looks down and nods. “I understand, I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk.”

Harry nods as well and smiles weakly, going to his room to start packing.

-x-x-

Louis calls his mum once Harry is gone. “Ma?” he murmurs, voice cracking a little.

“Baby boy, hi, are you okay?” she asks worriedly.

“Yeah, yeah mum I’m okay. Just miss you lots, is all. How are the twins? And the girls? How are you?” Louis asks.

“The twins are great, they’re growing up so fast; the girls miss you. Lottie got a job so she’s very excited about that. And Dan is doing so well and Daisy just won spelling bee. I’m great; all my babies are doing well so even I’m happy and healthy.”

Louis smiles. “That’s brilliant ma, I wish I could be there. I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too, baby, we’ll try to visit soon yeah? We’ll definitely be there for Ernie and Doris’ first birthday. How are you? How’s Harry?” when Louis doesn’t reply, Jay freaks out a little. “Louis? Is he okay? Did something happen?” 

“No ma, don’t freak out.” He quells her fears and explains the entire situation.

“First of all, love, I wanna tell you I’m so bloody proud of you. You finally told him. I’m sorry it didn’t go over too well, but trust me on this one Lou, he’s gonna come around, both of you are made for each other okay? He loves you just as much. Give him the time he needs. He will come back to you.” Louis calms down a little and thanks his mother. They talk for a little while and finally, Louis hangs up.

Louis tries his best not to think about Harry or his child but to no avail. So he does the only thing he can think of, he calls Zayn and orders him to come over.

-x-x-x-

“Why the hell are you here then, Harry?” Anne snaps, once Harry finishes telling her what went down at Louis’ place.

“What do you mean?” Harry asks, offended.

“I mean, that boy has been head over heels for you since ninth grade. You’re pregnant with his child. He finally tells you he’s in love with you after seeing you love someone else for five years and supporting you through a traumatic pregnancy. Why aren’t you back home telling him how much you love him?”

“Because I don’t know if I do, mum. I- Louis means a lot to me, but I’ve never thought of him as anything more than my best mate, I need time to take this in. Suddenly, it’s like his words have triggered a plethora of emotions flowing through me and I can’t expose them in their raw form. He deserves to hear a direct answer, not lame excuses and blubbered reasons.”

Anne nods like she agrees with her son’s choice and smiles at him. “Just don’t take too long. He has a breaking point too, you know. And he really loves you.”

“I know. Now if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go take a nap. Maybe that will clear my head.” He sighs softly

-x-x-x-

“So are you going to tell me what’s going on or…?” Zayn trails off.

“No I’m not. I called you here to talk about you and Liam and get rid of my stress by making you stress. Stop trying to foil my plans.”

“Lou,” Zayn chuckles, “I don’t know what makes you think that me and Liam will ever get together because one, I’m never asking him and two, he’d say no anyway.”

“But he wouldn’t!! You’re so stupid and then you act like I’m stupid for not telling Harry about my feelings any earlier. Come on Zayn, Liam adores you.”

“For god sake Louis, he’s straight and he just got out of a relationship.”

“It’s nearly been a year you dumb fuck, he’s well over Sophia by now. You should really give it a shot.” Zayn narrows his eyes at Louis.

“Tell you what, I’ll make you a deal, if Harry takes more than a day to come back, then I’ll tell Liam.” Zayn says.

“Awfully confident in Harry, are we? Alright you’re on. I bet he won’t come back for at least 3 days.” Louis asserts confidently. All they had to do now was wait and see who knew Harry better.

As the twenty four hours crept closer to end, Zayn got more and more anxious. He firmly believed that Harry wasn’t a moron and he’d be back way before 24 hours if only to relieve Louis that he wasn’t mad at him but as time passed it began to look more and more like Louis knew Harry better, which, it was kind of obvious, Zayn was stupid to make this bet in the first place.

At a day and a half mark, Louis finally cracks. “Well, guess we’re going over to Liam’s aren’t we?” He asks with a tired smirk. He half hoped Harry would come back.

Zayn sighs. “I’m going over to Liam’s” He corrects. “You, on the other hand, are getting some sleep because – all offense intended – you look like absolute shit.”

Louis snorts before muttering a half hearted, sarcastic “gee thanks” before Zayn pushes him in the direction of his bedroom. Louis slowly walks towards his room. He doesn’t want to sleep even though he’s tired because he doesn’t want Harry to come by, only to return because Louis was sleeping.

“I’ll keep you posted on Liam brutally rejecting me.” Zayn grumbles.

“If he fucks you instead, get me on FaceTime first.” Louis calls after him, the door slamming as a response. Louis sighs at being left to his own devices. He doesn’t do well with alone time, can never figure out what to do with himself. Generally, between his job, Harry and his family, he rarely got time to stop and actually think. But now with him and Harry not really being on mindless texting terms and his family a literal ocean away, the only thing that remains is work and no thank you, he spends enough time in the office as it is.  
Finally he decides to go out for a drive, thinking that would help clear his head. He ends up at the bar he met the other Harry, Harry Foster. He needs a distraction and a cute boy with a nose ring sounds pretty perfect.

“Louis!! Haven’t heard from you since the last time you called thinking I was your Harry.” Harry says cheerfully when he sees Louis making his way towards the bar.

Louis smiles weakly. “Sorry love, been pretty hectic. How’ve you been?” Harry talks about his job and his master’s degree which he was currently in university for. “Is that so? I didn’t know you were gifted in the culinary department as well?”

Harry blushes a little. “I cook every now and then. My mum says I’m brilliant but I think she only says it to please me. What about you. You said it’s been hectic. What’s up?”

Louis lets out a nervous chuckle at that. “If I tell you, you’ll probably think I’m an even bigger lunatic than you already know me to be.” Harry laughs at that and nudges and prods Louis into talking, listening attentively.

Once Louis finishes, Harry lets out a soft little sigh. “Well, given that you’re in a bar in the middle of the day, talking to a guy you hit on only to confess seconds later that you were actually into his namesake, I doubt you come seeking advice,” and Louis could kiss him for reading him so accurately. “So I’m assuming you’re looking for moral support and encouragement, in which case, I can help to some extent at least.” He says with a small smile.

“That sounds wonderful, pair it with a rum and coke though, and I’ll take a cigarette if you have one on you.” Harry simply nods and readies his drink handing him a pack of smokes and a lighter. 

“Well, I don’t know how much of whatever you told me is an exaggeration but I’m gonna pretend like all of it is,” Louis lets out an undignified squawk at that causing Harry to snort, “but, judging by your Harry’s reaction to our interaction when we initially met, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he’s definitely into you. And well, if you’ve been friends this long, it was about damn time that you told him that you love him. I think he just needs time, he’s going to come back to you very soon, maybe he just needs his brain to actually process that his best mate is in love with him. I mean, it’s not very easy to come to terms with that realisation.” Louis smiles a little, at least a little pacified by Harry’s reasoning. “In the meantime though, I’m gonna take that from you.” He plucks the cigarette out of his hand. “Not very healthy to be smoking if you’re going to have a baby around in the house, yeah?”

Louis grins at that, picturing a little kid running around the house and him and Harry doting on the definite centre of their universe. Louis knows Harry really wants a baby girl and he can perfectly picture it, the soft pastel nursery, the pretty dresses, her braiding her dad’s hair once Louis convinces him to grow it out again and playing footie with him. When Louis doesn’t say anything for quite some time, Harry knocks on his forehead. “Earth to Louis.” He chuckles. “You look like an absolute creep with that idiotic grin on your face.”

Louis chuckles weakly, snapping out of his reverie. He smiles softly at Harry. “I was just thinking about what you said, having a baby around.” 

Harry smiles back and gives his hand a reassuring squeeze. “Everything will be okay. He’ll be back soon enough, just give him some time.” He assures and Louis nods. He believes it, he thinks. At least a little bit. “As much as I’d love to stay chatting, I really do need to get back to work.” Harry says with a small grimace.

“Yeah, yeah of course. I should be heading home anyway. I’m expecting to hear from Zayn soon. Bye love, it was nice seeing you again.” Harry grins and reciprocates the sentiment, bidding him good luck before Louis leaves.

-x-x-x-

“I uh- aren’t you gonna say something?” Zayn asks nervously. He had just confessed that he was in love with his best friend to said best friend.

Liam is silent for a few seconds longer. “I mean, this is unexpected?” He says, almost like a question with a nervous chuckle. Zayn’s face goes from hopeful to heartbroken in a split second. Liam immediately corrects himself. “No no no no! I don’t mean it that way.” He assures him. “I love you!” he blurts out unable to take Zayn looking so hurt. “I just, I guess I didn’t really expect you to feel the same way, what with that girl you hang around with so much.”

“Girl?” Zayn asks confused.

“Yeah? That blonde who’s always hanging off your arm like she has no life and no job besides clinging to you.”

Zayn laughs. “You mean Gigi?”

Liam frowns. “If that’s what her name is.” Zayn laughs louder and steps closer to him.

“Have you looked at yourself, Liam Payne? Do you really think someone like Gigi stood a semblance of a chance against you?” Liam blushes a little

“Have _you_ seen yourself? How does one not get insecure? Everybody wants you.” He mumbles, almost whining, not really meeting his eyes.

“Well, “everybody” can suck it, because I only want you. If you’ll let me have you that is.” He states, getting a little shy at the end. Liam simply grins and gently kisses him.

“I think I might just let you have me.” He replies teasingly, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him in even closer, lips meeting again. Zayn smiles into the kiss and cups the man’s face deepening the kiss making Liam let out a soft sigh. Zayn tugs a little on his hair and pulls away with a pout. “What’re you pouting about?” Liam asks, thumb rubbing at his hip.

“Louis is going to be so intolerably smug, I hate him.” He grumbles before his eyes light up and he begins taking off Liam’s shirt.

“Woah okay slow down.” Liam laughs

“Shut your face and let me do my thing.” He hushes him and drops the shirt to the ground, his quickly following suit. “Couch.” He orders, dragging him to the couch and pushing him to take a seat before sitting on his lap. “Okay.” He murmurs thoughtfully reaching up to mess up Liam’s hair.

“Okay, Zee seriously, you’re weirding me out.” Liam laughs nervously.

“Will you shut your mouth? Actually you know what? Don’t shut it, put it to some good use, gimme a nice shiner.” He points to his collarbone and starts messing up his own hair.

“You want me to-

“Give me a lovebite, yes, catch on Liam.”

“Can you at least explain what’s going on?”

“We’re gonna fuck with Louis. I told him I’d keep him posted about you brutally rejecting me and he told me to FaceTime him if we fucked instead so that’s exactly what we’re gonna do.” Liam’s eyes light up.

“I think I just fell for you a little more.” He chuckles before starting to work on his collarbone.

“High enough so it’d be visible.” He murmurs and Liam simply nods. Zayn sighs in pleasure at the feeling and lets out a soft whine. Liam pulls away once he’s satisfied; eyes dark and lips red. Zayn’s pupils dilate at the sight, his eyes glassy and lips slightly bitten. “I have half a mind to ditch the FaceTime idea.” He murmurs darkly, kissing him with purpose. Liam’s hands make their way to Zayn’s ass, squeezing just a little.

“Let’s get it over with quickly then, before it becomes too scarring even for Louis.” Zayn nods and pulls out his phone. “You’re gonna have to act okay? You gotta pretend like,” he blushes a little, “like I’m riding you.” Liam grins and nods. “Okay, let’s do this.” He slowly begins to grind a little to set the pace. Liam moans softly. 

“Fuck.” He murmurs throwing his head back and digging his nails into his thighs and Zayn grins, pleased.

“Good job, baby.” He praises and calls Louis on FaceTime. As soon as Louis picks up Zayn looks at him briefly. He musters his most breathy voice building his pace both of them starting to get hard. “You wanted me to FaceTime you if he fucked me. So hi. Say hi, Li.” He grins weakly and Liam barely acknowledges the boy.

Louis curses loudly, using some choicest swear words and ridiculous curses, something along the line of a pack of mouldy boars and indecent hooligans and slutty rabbits in heat before hanging up. Zayn and Liam burst into raucous laughter before Liam kisses Zayn and lifts him up. “Bedroom?” Zayn’s shy little nod is answer enough.


	19. XIX

It had nearly been a week since Harry left and it had been absolute radio silence on his end. Louis really doesn’t want to admit it but he’s completely freaking out. He even texted Anne but she too has absolutely no idea what is going on in Harry’s mind. One thing that has satisfied him but also worried him is that Harry refuses to see the doctor without Louis. They had earlier gone to confirm the pregnancy before this whole spectacle but that’s about it. All Louis wanted to do was at least take Harry to the doctor to confirm that everything was in order.

With each hour that passed with silence from Harry, Louis got more and more antsy and it had started to get even on the other’s nerves. Zayn places a hand on Louis’ knee to stop his leg from bouncing nervously. “Will you stop that for heaven’s sake? You getting restless doesn’t help any of our mental states.”

“Leave me be!” he snaps. Zayn had become like thrice as chirpy since he and Liam started dating and while he was initially very happy for the boys but now it was starting to get on his nerves. Zayn when they hung out and Liam at work, both were driving him up the wall. The only person that he could truly tolerate anymore was Niall.

“Hey, Lou, just stay calm okay? He’ll contact you eventually.” Niall murmurs wrapping an arm around Louis. Louis gratefully curls up into Niall’s embrace. He’s generally not the ‘I need cuddles’ type but with Harry gone for a week, Louis was really getting antsy.

“Tell you what, let’s us lads go to a club tonight. It’s been forever.”

Reflexively Louis answers, “can’t; Harry isn’t supposed to drink.”

Niall frowns. “Mate, this is exactly why you need to get back out there. You can’t keep basing your actions off of what Harry can or can’t do!”

“Shut your face Niall, it’s unfair of me to go gallivanting off to clubs when Harry can’t drink because _I_ got him pregnant.” Niall chooses not to say anything. It is evident that the best course of option would be to let Louis be till Harry showed his face again. Over the last week Niall debated with himself about texting Harry to let him know Louis was driving all of them nuts but Louis strictly told all of them to not even mention his name to the boy. All three of them had been meeting him as usual but they were careful to avoid topics that could get awkward.

-x-x-

“So I just go back?” Harry asks with a nervous chuckle.

“Yes Harry, it’s about time, baby boy. I can bet Louis is damn near ripping his hair out by now. You know how much he worries.” Anne sighs softly. With a few more reassuring words, Anne bids Harry off. Harry drives to his and Louis’ flat finding it locked. He didn’t even take his keys when he left. Should he text Louis? Is that inappropriate?

He debates with himself for a while before finally texting Zayn to ask where Louis was. Zayn replies with _at this café. Eating our head._

Harry chuckles to himself before asking him to please get him home and to not tell him that Harry was waiting for him. He sits down at the foot of the steps and waits. When he finally pulls into the driveway, Harry stands up, slightly unsteady because of sitting out on the steps for almost half an hour.

“Oh… so that’s why Zayn was insisting I go home.” Louis says softly, unable to keep from sounding cold.

Harry winces at his tone. “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad. You understand why I had to leave.” He tells him, equally soft.

“I understand, I’m not mad, I don’t think so. I’m just hurt, I guess. I didn’t think you’d need a week to come to a conclusion.”

“I know. It didn’t take me a week. I was just worried if I was making the right decision or not. I didn’t want to talk to mum about it because I already knew what she thought was right. You know I generally take advice from you or Jay but even that seemed unviable in such a situation.” Louis nods and leads him in.

“Well, no point beating about the bush I guess?” he says. “What have you decided?”

Harry blushes a little. He has absolutely no idea how to put this into words. He finally appreciates how much effort it took Louis to actually tell him that he had loved him for so long. “I- I don’t know how to say this, Lou.”

“Haz, look, let me make this simple okay? If you’re here to tell me you don’t feel the same way, then um, just, I guess go to your room? I’ll book you us an appointment for tomorrow. I’ll help you look for a house and after the baby is born, you can move in there and we can have joint custody. If you have something else you’d like to say then spit it out already because I can’t take it anymore.”

When Harry doesn’t make a move to go to his room, Louis sits up straighter and listens attentively. “Well, I mean, I guess you’ve already understood that I want to be around.”

“Get to the point Harry. I’m damn near done at this point” Louis snaps.

Harry nods. “Right. This isn’t easy and I feel stupid…” he takes a deep breath. “But I- uh- if you’ll have me, I’d love to have children with you.”

Louis is kind of confused. “I don’t think I know what you mean.” He says slowly.

“I mean, I don’t even know why I’m nervous about saying this, but I kind of love you too.” He exhales harshly. Louis doesn’t register these words at first and you can see comprehension dawn on him as his expression goes from confusion to ecstasy.

“You mean that?” Louis asks softly, almost disbelieving.

“Yeah, Lou, I mean it. I know it took me way longer than it should have but trust me I was beating myself up over it all week. Mum nearly sent me back to you the minute I reached. I’m sorry I didn’t see it before.” He murmurs, inching towards Louis. Louis takes Harry’s hands in his own.

“No Haz, I’m sorry, I’ve wronged you so much, you thought you had a no strings attached thing going on when really you were sleeping with someone who had loved you for more than 10 years.” Harry chuckles.

“I wasted 5 years on an ass who ended up cheating on me; wouldn’t it have been nice if I’d spent them with you?”

Louis pulls Harry closer, “there’s no point reflecting on the past, I just, I want to raise our baby together.”

Harry blushes a little. “Yeah, yeah I think, I’d like that.” He agrees softly.

“I’m gonna kiss you now, okay?” Louis murmurs, cupping Harry’s face. Harry just nods, eyes wide. Louis leans in and presses his lips to Harry’s and it’s not the first time that they’ve kissed, not even the second. They’ve probably kissed hundreds of times in the span of their short friends with benefits thing but this feels completely different. It feels like all ridiculous cliché things that they show in rom-coms, sitting by the campfire, or ice water on a hot summer day, warm hugs in winter and such, but more than everything else, it feels like coming home. When they finally part, both of them have goofy smiles on their faces and Louis can’t help but kiss him once again, just because he can.

“I feel so stupid.” Harry chuckles softly. Louis consoles Harry letting him know that it was okay.

“But I’m very mad at you! I can’t believe you still haven’t been to the doctor’s!” Louis huffs. Harry whines softly and snuggles up to Louis, hiding his face in his neck.

“I didn’t wanna go without you.” He mumbles and Louis can literally feel his heart melt.

“So you’re saying you wanted our first date to be a hospital visit, hmm?” Louis teases and Harry blushes and fuck, Louis’ dreamed of this for _years_. He can’t believe it’s finally happening.

“Well we could go out before that?” Harry offers, looking up at Louis innocently with big eyes.

Louis firmly shakes his head. “No way. I’m booking us an appointment and we’re going to the damn doctor first thing in the morning.” When Harry doesn’t protest, Louis pulls out his phone and directly books his appointment with the gynaecologist. “Tomorrow at 12, okay?” Louis murmurs and Harry nods. After confirming, Louis hangs up and looks at Harry, both of them quiet, unsure of what to say.

“Does this mean I don’t have to be sneaky about stealing your clothes anymore?” Harry finally asks with a little laugh.

Louis laughs. “You weren’t sneaky in the first place, babe. But sure, that’s exactly what it means. After all, all you want from me is my extensive collection of hoodies.”

Harry grins impishly. “I shall neither confirm nor deny that statement.” He giggles.

Louis lets out a sound of indignation. “Come here you.” He laughs, proceeding to mercilessly tickle the boy until he’s out of breath and begging Louis to stop.

“I hate you.” Harry pouts and Louis laughs.

“You wish baby. You love me.” He states confidently and kisses him again. Harry sighs softly into the kiss.

“Maybe I do love you a little.” He says with a fond smile, both of them grinning at each other like absolute idiots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short. Hope you enjoy it regardless. I wanted to update before my exams


	20. XX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about how late this is. I've been awfully busy recently, I have big exams coming up soon. Hope you like the chapter

“Harry!! Come _on_!! We’re getting late, it’s already half eleven.” Louis calls out impatiently.

“Hold your fucking horses, Tomlinson; if you’re going to leave a mess everywhere you go, someone’s gotta clean up after you.” Harry yells from Louis’ room.

Louis sighs softly going to the room and wrapping his arms around the boy briefly. “I’ll clean up once we come back, hmm? I really don’t want us to be late to the doctor’s.” Harry sighs softly turning to face Louis and hiding his face in Louis’ neck. “Haz? Are you okay?” Louis asks worriedly.

Harry nods a little. “I’m scared.” He finally admits. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen, my last visit to the gynae didn’t go all too well.”

Louis makes a sympathetic sound. “I know, Harry, I know, but you can’t forever avoid it. You have to come to terms with it, love. Come on now, let’s get out of here, yes?” he rubs the boy’s back pulling away after. Harry nods and Louis beams at him, leading him to the car. Louis puts on some music as soon as they’re on the road and Harry slowly begins to relax.

“I can’t believe you’re taking me to the hospital for our first date, you’re a pretty shitty boyfriend.” Harry teases.

Louis lets out a laugh. “Well I’ve gotta get you checked don’t I? What if you’re crazy or some shit.”

Harry’s mouth drops open. “I’m crazy? You’re the one sitting with a pregnant man in your passenger seat, _willingly!!_ ”

Louis grins a little. “Guess I’m just crazy about you, aren’t I?” he smirks a little.

Harry groans. “I _cannot_ believe you just said that. That’s some next level sap, Tomlinson. Even for you.”

Louis laughs. “Oh my love, you haven’t seen next level sap just yet. Wait till I actually take you out on a date.” He murmurs, making Harry smile a little.

“I can’t wait.” Harry says softly as Louis pulls into the parking lot of the hospital.

“Ready?” Louis asks softly.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Harry sighs nervously.

Louis leads him in and they sit in the waiting room till the lady calls Harry’s name and ushers them in. The doctor smiles at them. “Well, welcome back.” She says with the hint of a teasing smirk and Harry blushes. “Congratulations are in order I suppose?” she gestures between the two of them and Louis just smiles softly, squeezing Harry’s hand. “Well from what I see, you already have a confirmation of his pregnancy. You’re what 5 weeks along?”

Harry shakes his head. “7 actually.” He tells her.

She nods. “Okay, do I need to brief you on the precautions and stuff again?” They both shake their heads. “Okay, Harry I’d like to do an exam and an ultrasound so you might want to start drinking water. We’ll do the exam first.” She says and Harry nods.

Louis smiles, a little awkward.  “I’m gonna go get you some water okay?” he murmurs pressing  a kiss to Harry’s cheek before leaving the room. Louis comes back ten minutes later with three bottles of water and a cup. Harry’s too fussy to drink straight from the bottle.

“Everything seems okay” Sara informs Louis and Louis smiles, thanking her before pouring out some water and handing the cup to Harry. “You both can wait out, just let my assistant know when you’re ready.” They leave the clinic and sit in the corner of the waiting room, Harry shivering a little. Louis wordlessly wraps an arm around the boy and lets him cuddle close, hospital waiting rooms are stupidly cold and the canteen only had refrigerated water. Harry then talks about what happened in the week that he was gone, telling Louis about what was going through his head and Louis does the same, including a few details of how much he got on the lads’ nerves with his constant worrying.  Harry then hides his face in Louis’ neck talking to him about the symptoms he could expect.

“Apparently I’m gonna have days when I’m ridiculously horny to the point where I won’t let you leave the room.” He mumbles and Louis smirks.

“Well fuck, I can’t wait for that.” He says placing a hand on Harry’s inner thigh making Harry shut his legs, effectively trapping his hand between his legs. Harry whines softly and Louis laughs indignantly. “Don’t you dare pretend to be shy about this, I know you, you little minx!” Harry giggles at that finishing the last of his water.

“And now we wait till I have a crippling urge to pee.” He huffs snuggling up to Louis.

“Okay well that sounds dull.” He huffs.

“Lou!” Harry says suddenly. “We have to go baby shopping.”

Louis smiles softly. “We do, eventually. It’s too early right now though, love.” He says softly.

“It’s never too early.” Harry huffs and fuck, it was so nice to see Harry so genuinely excited about something after so long. His miscarriage didn’t just take his unborn baby, it took a part of him and suddenly it seemed like the boy was whole again and it was making Louis tear up just a little.

“I suppose you’re right. We’ll go this weekend, okay? Whenever you can find a day off from the bakery.” Harry nods contently. As time went on, Harry was spending more and more time at the bakery and Harry had started thinking about starting his own bakery one day. It had come as a shock to him when Barbara told him she planned on handing the bakery over to him in a few months, claiming she was too old to run it anymore and wanted to move to a sunnier place where she could enjoy life for what was left of it. Harry hadn’t told Louis yet, hadn’t had the chance to, with how much of a whirlwind his life had been recently.

They talk quietly till Harry decides he’s ready to go in and is called for the ultrasound. Harry smiles giddily, tugging on Louis’ hand like an excited child. He lies on the table and lifts his shirt pulling down his pants just a little. Sara applies the jelly on the stick and presses down on Harry’s lower abdomen. Harry’s toes curl at the pressure on his bladder and Louis just squeezes his hand. An internal one was uncomfortable too but in a very different way.

Harry tears up at the sound of the heartbeat, the familiar sound bringing back memories both joyous and painful. He looks up at Louis and sees him dabbing at the corner of his eyes. Harry smiles, kissing the back of Louis’ hand. “Our baby.” He says fondly, holding Louis’ hand to his chest.  He asks the doctor to please print the pictures and grabs a few tissues, cleaning the jelly off his tummy. “Loo.” He tells Louis running off quickly making Louis chuckle.

“The baby seems very healthy. It’s very young at this point so it isn’t possible for me to make any concrete observation but definitely a loud and clear heartbeat which is one of the best signs you could hope for, given the reason for Harry’s last miscarriage.” Sara tells Louis.

Louis nods. “I- uh- I read somewhere that women who miscarry once are more likely to miscarry again, is that – is that true?”

“That is true Louis, but you need not worry, Harry’s miscarriage wasn’t a pregnancy complication, it was a major health issue with the baby. And an issue like that; I would’ve recommended Harry to get an abortion because there is no recovery from such a disease. It is a progressive terminal disease and the disease would’ve eaten away at the child’s heart till there was nothing left. Allowing such a child to be born would be absolutely cruel both to the parents and the child. The most a child with that heart condition would get would be three years of a downright miserable existence.”

Louis curses under his breath. “I didn’t know it was that bad.” He murmurs. “Please keep doing routine checks to ensure my baby is okay. I- should we come in more often?”

“Once every two weeks is enough Louis, don’t stress. We have to give the baby time to develop. And please insure no matter how sick Harry feels or how bad his body image issues get, he must eat well.” Louis nods earnestly. Harry comes back in.

“Well?” He asks.

“Everything is good. Absolutely nothing to worry about. I have your prints ready. I’ll see you in two weeks. Stay healthy Harry and take care of him, Louis.” The doctor hands them the prints and waves them out.

***

“That was less nerve wracking than I expected.” Harry breathes out.

“Yeah? I’m glad.” Louis says softly pressing a kiss to Harry’s cheek. Harry blushes a little, not used to Louis’ affection in a romantic way.

“Yeah, but I am kind of tired so I’m gonna go take a nap, yeah?” Harry smiles and Louis nods.

“Alright that’s fine. I need to run some things by Liam so I’m going over to his place, just text me or call me if you need something.” Louis says, putting their plates in the sink. “Don’t worry about the dishes, I’ll do them once I’m home.” He promises, picking up his car keys, kissing Harry softly before grabbing his laptop and leaving.

Harry goes to bed, sending off a text to Gemma and his mother, letting them know that his appointment went well and he’d be sending them a picture of the sonogram soon. He puts his phone aside picking up a book that he’d ordered online after finding out he was pregnant the first time but never got around to reading. He reads for a few minutes before exhaustion begins to weigh heavy on his eyes and he falls asleep with the book on his chest.

Louis comes home to absolute quiet. He hums softly to himself and washes the dishes and makes some soup for dinner. He takes the soup and a stack of buttered toast upstairs finding Harry asleep. He sets the tray on his side of the bed and picks up the book that had fallen off Harry’s chest and takes off his lopsided glasses that were probably cutting into the side of his head. “Haz…” he calls out softly. “Harry…” he says again when he gets no response. “Wake up, Harry.” He says shaking the boy, making him start a little.

“Huh?” he asks confused, having no recollection of falling asleep in the first place. “Lou?” he asks squinting, blinking rapidly to clear his vision.

“Yeah, it’s me. I think you fell asleep, reading.” He says, pushing Harry’s hair out of his eyes, making him smile sleepily and nuzzle into Louis’ touch with a content expression, almost falling asleep again on Louis’ hand. Louis chuckles a little, slapping his cheek lightly, “alright that’s enough, Sleeping Beauty, leave some sleep for the night now will you?” he teases. “c’mon now, I made you soup.”

“Is it chicken?” Harry asks.

“Of course it is, now up!” Louis demands. Harry makes a big show of sitting up before accepting the bowl, breathing in the aroma.

“Mmm, I think this is why I love you.” He says with a little smirk.

“Oh is that so?” Louis raises an eyebrow. “You’ll be singing a different tune when the soup doesn’t cuddle you at night or cater to your whims and fancies.”

Harry laughs. “No I mean, I love you because you cater to my whims and fancies.”

Louis laughs. “Of course, I’m just a PA, a butler even.”

“Hey, at least you’d look good either way, suit or ridiculous tailcoat and bowtie.” Harry teases playfully.

Louis laughs. “I’d shove you or tickle you but I really don’t want you spilling the soup all over the bed so… yeah” he says with a shrug.

Harry grins. “I love you.” He says with a shy smile.

Louis smiles brightly, taken aback at the sudden confession. “I love you.” He says back softly and kisses him, pushing his hair back. “Eat love, our little pumpkin needs nutrition.”

Harry smiles looking down at his soup and spooning some into his mouth. “I’m very happy to be doing this with you.” He says looking up at Louis.

Louis smiles softly. “Me too, darling. No one else I’d rather be with, nowhere else I’d rather be.” He murmurs placing their foreheads together.


	21. XXI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I suppose an explanation is in order given that I haven't updated in exactly five months now. The reason behind this irresponsibility is nothing but the mere issue of other priorities. It is not that I have lost my passion for writing or my love for this story but the fact that I'm 16 years old which means I have a lot of major events (mostly school related) that keep me on my toes. I had been extremely busy with tenth grade finals which are very important tests in my country.
> 
> I'm proud to say that my break from Wattpad helped me score a 93.6% in said finals. I was also busy applying to boarding school. Yes that's correct. I'm going to boarding school now.
> 
> The reason why I'm telling you all this is that it means something for chapter updates. At boarding school I can't access Wattpad at all due to no electronics policy. However, I am continuing to write even when I'm away at school. I apologise because I can't even promise to try for more frequent updates. However since I have no distractions at school such as roleplaying and other lazy stuff, I'm more consistent with my writing. I hope to wrap up this story by the end of the year and not disappoint you with it.
> 
> To everyone who stuck with me through the inconsistent updates, thank you, I hope you see the growth in my writing that I believe I have achieved.
> 
> If you made it through the long ass author's note, congratulations and I'm sorry for rambling. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I look forward to reading your reviews. Much love x

Everything had been smooth sailing in the last two months. Harry was finally starting to show, and neither he nor Louis could get enough of his swollen tummy. Harry loved the attention from people who visited the bakery, congratulating him and commenting on his glow, even wanting to take pictures with him.

Louis was even more excited. They’d spent the last month remodelling Harry’s room to turn it into a nursery for their little baby. It was now a nice yellow colour with a beige crib by the window. A meadow had been painted on the wall adjacent to the bed with butterflies and birds, courtesy of Harry. The walls were filled with pictures of Harry, Louis and their families with a space in between where they planned to put up a picture of them with their child. They decided to hold off on too much clothes shopping till they found out the gender of the baby. Harry had insisted on buying a panda onesie and a little sailor outfit and Louis had been unable to put up a fight both because the boy was so damn cute when he had that stupid pout on and because he did want to see his baby in both those cute as fuck outfits.

Louis was at work when he got a call from Harry reminding him of dinner with Harry’s parents. They’d decided they wanted to spend Christmas with Louis’ family in the States so to make up for that they were having dinner with Harry’s family tonight.

“Yeah, love, I know I know.” He says with a small smile. “I’ll be there in time. Are you home? How was work?” he asks, wedging the phone between his ear and his shoulder

“Work was hectic.” Harry sighs. “Long, long day.” He tells him. “We had this massive wedding cake order and Evie and I handled it all alone.”

Louis makes a sympathetic sound. “I can imagine. I know how time-consuming those are.” He says.

“It was okay, the cake looked great. My feet hurt so much though and our little pumpkin has been kicking all day.” He chuckles

Louis smiles softly. “Yeah alright Styles, don’t try to be subtle, I’ll give you a foot rub after we come back from your parents’ place.” Harry laughs brightly at that. “I just- I wish I could feel peanut kick as well.” Louis sighs sadly.

Harry smiles softly. “I know Lou, don’t over think it please. You know the doctor said I’d feel the kicks way before you do.” He says.

“Yeah, I love you.”

“I love you too; now get that sweet ass back to work.” Harry grins, hanging up.

Louis wraps up in two hours, putting his laptop away and makes his way home. He unlocks the door to find Harry crying on the couch. Immediately Louis drops his stuff onto the counter and rushes over to Harry. “Haz? What’s wrong baby?” he asks sitting down next to him. Harry shakes his head, not meeting Louis’ eyes. “Harry, you know I can’t fix it unless I know what it is.” He says softly.

Harry turns and buries himself into Louis’ chest crying even harder. Louis coos softly and wraps his arms around the boy, hugging him tightly. Harry mumbles incoherently, holding onto Louis’ shirt.

“Harry…” Louis says softly, voice patient. Harry looks up at him, eyes rimmed red, glassed over with tears. “Hi…” Louis smiles. “What’s wrong bub?” Harry sighs softly pointing to a lump of fabric at the end of the couch. Louis reaches for the fabric, finding it to be Harry’s jeans. “What about this, H?” he asks with a smile.

“Tried it on today after two weeks, they won’t button.” he mumbles. Louis chuckles at that.

“Well of course they won’t button Harry, you’re having a baby.” he says softly.

“And I keep having ridiculous mood swings.” he whines.

“Well at least you admit they’re ridiculous.” he teases.

“Louuuu...”

“Alright okay, I’ll be serious. Tell me what’s up. We both know these aren’t the real reasons behind your tears.

Harry nods. “Yeah okay. I- promise you won’t be mad?” he asks Louis softly and Louis hates making promises like this because how can he know that something Harry says won’t piss him off? But Harry looks so desperate and heartbroken that Louis promises not to get mad. “Okay so… well, like, I told you that my feet were hurting right?” he says and Louis nods. “Well, I just. My back started hurting as well and my head and then I threw up twice and then the mood swings and I just, I thought of getting the child aborted. I was just, fuck, how could I even think that, Lou?” his voice cracks and he breaks down into tears again.

Louis shushes the boy, cradling him into his arms. “Harry, don’t be silly darling, it’s not your fault.”

“Lou I thought of killing a child, killing our child! All because of some minor inconveniences.” Harry exclaims, distressed.

“Harry, my love, look at your state, you’ve been crying for ages because of one fleeting thought that was caused by raging hormones and distress. Stop being so hard on yourself, princess. We both know that you love our baby with all your heart and you’d go to the ends of the world for them. One thought that you clearly regret doesn’t change or nullify that or make you a bad person. We all have strange thoughts when we’re overwhelmed and you’re no different.” he assures him. Harry pulls away and looks up to him, tears still brimming in his eyes. “Trust me Harry, I love you and I know you. You shouldn’t be stressing about this so much. Now get up hun, we have to meet with your parents for dinner.” he says, kissing his forehead. Harry nods.

“I’ll meet you here in 15 minutes.” he murmurs, nuzzling into him briefly before going into the bedroom. Louis takes his clothes and goes into the nursery to change. Previous experience had taught them to change in different rooms for the sake of… punctuality.

Louis pulls on his sheer black t- shirt and a fawn blazer to complement it. He puts his hair up in a quiff and sits on the couch waiting for Harry. He comes out a few minutes later, dressed more cosy with a cream cable-knit sweater and black skinny jeans. He is also wearing light makeup which comes as an unexpected but very hot shock to Louis. Harry blushes when he sees the look on Louis’ face.

“Good?” he asks with a coy smile.

Louis grins stepping up to him. “Very good.” he murmurs softly, connecting their lips briefly. “You’re gonna pay for this mister.” he tells him

Harry laughs, stepping back. “Oh really Lou? What are you gonna do, hmm?” he ribs playfully.

“Oh you’ll see once we’re home.” he says grabbing the keys and leading him out, locking the house behind him.

***

Anne greets them with warm smiles, fawning over Harry’s bump and pregnancy glow.

“Don’t be fooled Anne, it’s all makeup I tell you.” he laughs softly causing Harry to shoot a glare his way, making Louis chuckle setting his hand on the small of Harry’s back. “Joking love.” he smiles fondly. Anne leads them inside.

“How’s Jay doing? I haven’t had the chance to speak to her at all.” Anne asks as they sit down.

“She’s very well; the twins keep her and Dan awake and moving all the time. She says it’s really helping her get rid of the baby weight.” he says with a fond smile.

“You must really be looking forward to going and meeting all of them. Are all formalities complete?” she asks as Robin brings out tea and Louis gets up to help him serve.

“Yes, I can’t wait. I think my mother is more excited to meet Harry though.” he says handing Anne the cup.

Anne laughs at that. “He’s probably more excited to see her as well.” she winks.

Harry protests at that. “If you’re both quite finished?” he remarks huffily.

Louis smiles fondly. “Just playful teasing, love.” he says handing the boy his tea and taking his place next to him.

“I’ll show you playful teasing.” he murmurs under his breath and Louis almost chokes. Anne raises a confused brow and Louis shakes his head, coughing and thumping his chest with his fist. “What happened, Lou?” Harry asks innocently, barely able to conceal his smirk.

Louis shoots him a look. “Nothing at all.” he assures him in a tone that alerts Harry’s nerves.

Anne smiles a little, confused. “Shall I start setting dinner?” she questions.

“Yeah, of course, I’ll lay the table.” Harry says, getting up to escape the charged look in Louis’ eyes. Louis busies himself with making more tea and keeping up light conversation with Robin, asking about Gemma and such.

Robin tells him about Gemma’s tour and shows him a few pictures. Louis smiles brightly. “When is she coming back?” Louis asks.

“I think a day or two before you both leave.” Robin says.

Louis nods. “I haven’t seen her in a while; I’ll have to catch up with her once we’re back. How are things going with her and her boyfriend?”

Robin smiles a little. “She expects him to propose soon. Imagine that, my little girl, all grown up and ready to get married.”

Louis smiles at the reminiscent tone. “I can imagine how you feel.” he says looking towards Harry.

“We’ve been an absolute mess over how much our baby has grown and they’re not even in the world yet.” he says softly and Robin pats his back to convey that he understands.

“Do you plan on finding out the sex?” he asks. “It must be almost time.”

Louis bites his lip. “We haven’t really talked about it all that much.” he admits. “But I think we will find out the gender.”

“You should definitely talk about it. Couples tend to row over that sort of thing.” he says.

“I will thank you. But I’m really not too hell bent either way. I’d be okay with however Harry would want to go about it.” he says with a shrug. He didn’t really care about the sex of the kid. It played no role in how they would raise, treat or love their child.

Before they can further the conversation Harry calls out to them for dinner and they get up to join Harry and Anne at the table.

***

Now give me your foot, let me help with the pain.” Louis says quietly. Harry smiles weakly and places his feet in Louis’ lap. Louis smiles beginning to work his fingers into the sore muscles of Harry’s feet making soft moans leave his lips. “So obscene.” Louis teases making Harry kick at him.

“I love you.” he says with a small smile.

“I know.” Louis says and it isn’t smug, just quiet and real. It’s Louis letting Harry know that he understood him. Harry ducks his head, concealing a sweet smile.

“Thank you, Lou, really.” he says softly.

“H, you don’t have to thank me. In fact, you should’ve called me when the pain got worse, I would’ve distracted you.” He says suggestively.

Harry laughs. “Maybe you can distract me now.” he says with a wink.

Louis laughs crawling closer to Harry, pressing their foreheads together. “I like that idea.” he says pressing soft kisses to his lips, laying him down on the couch.

***

“Right? That’s exactly what I said.” Liam says, making Zayn and Louis laugh. They were sitting at the cafeteria in their office, having lunch, Louis with a scarf around his neck, hiding the evidence of last night’s events.

“I take Harry’s doing well?” Zayn asks gesturing towards his scarf.

Louis blushes a little. “Yeah he’s doing pretty well.” He murmurs.

“Mate, you don’t have to be shy, you’ve been pining after the lad for years and you’re having a child with him, we know you’ve fucked.” Liam rolls his eyes.

Louis just hums in agreement. “What about you, Liam, how is your life?” he asks suggestively. Zayn looks up from his tea so fast he practically gets whiplash and Louis snorts into his coffee.

Liam shoots Louis an annoyed glare. “What are you trying to imply Tomlinson?” he asks and Louis just shakes his head. “Nothing, it’s an innocent question.” he says with a sly smirk.

“Well to that I’ll give a perfect innocent answer. None of your business.” Liam says tartly. Louis laughs but Zayn visibly deflates.

“Payno, all I’m saying is that I think it’s time for you to get out there again you know? It’s been quite a while since you and Sophia split up and it’s time for you to get back on the horse. Do you have your sights set on someone?” he asks.

Liam shrugs. “I don’t know. I mean, yeah kind of but I don’t think it’s a very good idea.” He explains.

Zayn looks confused. “How come you didn’t mention this to me?” he questions.

Liam shrugs again. “There was no point, Zee, it’s a risk not worth taking.” He says simply.

Louis groans. “You’re both painful you know.” He tells them irritably. It was obvious they were pining for each other and that they were perfect for each other too, if only they stopped being so fucking stubborn about it.

***

When Louis gets home that night, Harry is curled up on the couch. “Harry are you okay?” he says as he puts his keys in the bowl and hangs up his coat. Harry looks up at him forlorn and nods making grabby hands for him. Louis coos and goes over. Sitting down, he lets Harry rest his head in his lap and runs his fingers through the boy’s hair. They casually talk about their day till Harry’s cramps subside.

Harry prepares dinner while Louis lays the table and grumbles about Zayn and Liam being oblivious idiots and Harry chatters about going golfing with Niall the next day. The entire process feels so natural, they move seamlessly, like a team. Harry talking about running low on eggs and Louis’ immediate response of “Got them.”

Harry narrows his eyes. “Dry cleaning?” he teases. “Picked up.” Louis responds with a smirk. Harry bites his lip. “Ice cream?” Louis laughs. “Give me some credit babe, restocked yesterday.” Harry takes a sip of water, thinking about it. “The water bi-

“Already paid.” Louis interrupts. Harry laughs. “Okay what about… oh yeah, did you get cherries? I asked you to get cherries!” he suddenly remembers.

Louis groans. “Cherries, right. Sorry, I’ll get them tomorrow.” He says.

“Always Lou, always.” Harry laughs. “You’ll get everything even before I ask you to but the second I ask you to get something, you’ll forget.” Louis sighs. “I know babe, I know.” He says “Just text me next time yeah?” Louis says and Harry nods. Then Harry goes upstairs to prepare the bath as Louis clears the table and does the dishes.

He meets Harry in the bathroom, relaxing in the tub and smiles fondly, undressing as well. He gets in sitting behind Harry with his chest to Harry’s back asking him about his day at the bakery. Harry sighs, speaking slowly, voice dripping like honey as Louis washes the day off their bodies. They had fallen into slow and easy routine, light touches keeping them grounded. It was all very domestic. On the rare days that Harry was home later than Louis, Louis would have dinner and some massage oil ready, knowing that Harry would need the slow and loving attention from his boyfriend to help him unwind. On their off days, they’d further plan and prepare for the baby’s arrival. Louis’s hand rested over Harry’s swollen tummy, face tucked in his neck as Harry asked about the next appointment.

“This weekend, I think.” He says, sleepily. Harry pulls the plug with his foot and lets the water drain, standing up and putting on his fluffy wine bathrobe. Louis follows suit, his bathrobe a beige colour. Harry hums just as tired. They brush their teeth side by side and Louis laughs a little.

“What?” Harry asks. “We’re so disgustingly domestic.” He responds. “I love it.” He says pressing a soft kiss to Harry’s shoulder. Harry smiles. “Me too.” They shed their bathrobes, putting them on hangers and get into bed. Louis immediately takes his place behind Harry. “Goodnight H.” he says kissing his back.

“Night, Lou.” Harry murmurs linking his fingers with the hand that was resting on Harry’s tummy.


End file.
